


CoSL27: More Bitter than Death

by Dracophile



Series: Grimm-The Casebook of Sloane Larson [27]
Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Arson, Attempted Murder, Betrayal, F/M, Near Death Experiences, episode rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:34:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 35,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25394704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dracophile/pseuds/Dracophile
Summary: Rewrites of You Don't Know Jack, Headache, and Cry Havoc!The time has come for the gang to face off against the royals and Juliette! After helping Renard exorcise his demons, Juliette and Kenneth's plan comes to light. To save Kelly and Diana, they need to work fast--but the Royals seem steps ahead at every turn thanks to Juliette! The final confrontation shows she's ready to cut out her past life completely, and ready to kill to do it. Sloane may bear the brunt of her wrath if she wants to save Nick and the others.
Relationships: Nick Burkhardt/Original Female Character(s), Rosalee Calvert/Monroe
Series: Grimm-The Casebook of Sloane Larson [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1061588
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	CoSL27: More Bitter than Death

**_To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil!  
Conscience, and grace, to the profoundest pit!  
I dare damnation: To this point I stand,--  
That both the worlds I give to negligence,  
Let come what comes; only I'll be reveng'd._ **

\--------------------------

**More Bitter than Death**

\-------------------------

“If we kill him, he's kind of dead, isn't he?” Monroe said. They were at Sloane’s house, getting it ready for her to come home the day she was released. Mim and Jean had gone to get her but Rosalee had cooked up some easy home dishes the night before so she didn’t have to worry about food, and they were making sure things were clean and had brought her car back after unhitching it from Mim and Jean’s truck.

“We were thinking maybe there's a way to do this and not actually kill him. Like the Dead Faint, the same one we used on Monroe when they hired Angelina to kill him,” Hank said. “The only way to prove she had done it was to show them his dead body.”

Rosalee sighed as she put away the last of the food. “The tetrodotoxin…It slows down bodily functions, but it's very dangerous,” she said, looking unsure.

“I'll say. It almost killed me!” Monroe said.

“Well, if we don't figure out a way to get rid of it, we will end up killing him and he’ll keep killing other people,” Nick said.

“Are you sure he's involved in all of this?” Rosalee said. “I mean, you have Adalind and Henrietta’s word for this, I know, but I'd like to be real certain before we do it.”

“We haven't been able to tie him to the crime scenes yet. We're going back to recheck surveillance footage, see if there's something that we missed,” Hank said.

“We know it’s kind of out there as far as a theory, but Hank and Wu also found out the girls involved may have been wesen.”

“What?” she asked, surprised.

“We aren’t sure obviously, without Nick or Sloane there, but we did talk to one of the girls, Heidi McDunnah. I’ve gotten real good at noticing how you guys…move, even if I don’t see you woge. She just gave me that feeling. So, I jumped out on a limb and asked. She got really uncomfortable, but I told her we’re there to find her friend’s killer and she admitted she’s a klaustrike. But she didn’t know what happened to her friend or who did it.”

“You’re sure?”

“No…because she ended up being the next victim,” Hank said, sighing. “I saw her photo on the board the yesterday for the guys working the case. It was the night before Henrietta was attacked.”

“Oh…” Rosalee said, looking more worried.

They heard the car drive up then and though they nodded to one another in silent agreement to continue the planning later.

“I can carry that, Aunt Mim.”

“Absolutely not! You’re supposed to be taking it easy. Even if you are mostly healed, you’re skin and muscle and all that gotta finish healing.”

“She’s right, honey, you don’t want to pull on that scar tissue just yet…”

Sloane sighed and unlocked her door, walking in with her aunts close behind. She smiled when she saw them. “Hey, you guys came?”

“Of course,” Rosalee said, walking over to hug her. “I brought you some meals.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Sloane said, hugging her back.

“I know, but I wanted to make it a little easier on you.”

There was a sniffle and they looked over to see Jean looking teary eyed. “I’m so glad Sloane has such good friends…”

“But we still don’t mind sticking around,” Mim said.

“I’m going to be alright. My anti-Dierdre charm is up, I’m going to be off work for a while, and honestly I’ve got like six people who are mother hens like you.” They smiled and waved when she gestured at them.

“Yeah…Oh my god, your birthday!” she gasped.

“It’s already passed,” she sighed. “It’s fine. We’ll do a raincheck when we’re all feeling up to it.”

“Okay…” Mim sighed. “You know, I wonder if Dierdre caused that accident in Eureka. She knows Maurice was a friend of ours and Rebecca’s…”

Jean frowned as well. “I wouldn’t put it past her…He should be alright now though since his daughter came in though, so we can—”

“Go back to Wildred,” Sloane said patiently. “I love you, and I’m grateful you drove up here to bring my stuff and bring me home. And normally a visit would be great. But I would prefer you watching over Oma’s house. I’m already worried Dierdre would go there to try and steal the rest of the stuff there, and I need you guys to get the repairs started. I’ll choose and buy cabinets and all that stuff and I’m going to trust you guys to make sure everything gets done.”

They looked at one another and sighed. “You promise to just rest?”

“Yes,” she said. Jean frowned but then gently had her lean over and kissed her forehead, and Mim did the same.

“Alright…But call us if you need anything.” 

“I will,” she smiled.

They sighed and waved to the others as they headed back to the car to head back home. Sloane sighed and walked over to sit down. “So…Did you discuss this whole “Jack the Ripper” situation?”

“Sloane, you really don’t have to worry about that—” Rosalee started.

She held up a hand with a smile as she sat down. “I’m really alright, I promise. Talking isn’t going to hurt me.”

She hesitated but sighed and nodded. “Nick ran it down for us.”

“And I suggested we use the Dead Faint. It’s that concoction we told you about, the one Monroe took that one time to make him seem dead,” Hank said.

“You think playing possum will…fool the spirit into leaving?” she asked, arching her brow.

“I mean, if he seems dead, I don’t think Jack will want to stick around,” he shrugged.

Sloane nodded a bit. “Sounds like a possibility.”

“My problem is it’s dangerous. It could actually kill him if we aren’t careful,” Rosalee said.

“I’m sure you’d do it perfectly,” Sloane smiled.

Rosalee laughed, though she looked a little strained. “I appreciate the faith in me, but I don’t want to go with that option unless we know for sure that Renard is possessed.”

“So, we watch him?”

“That’s what we gotta do for now…” 

She sighed but nodded. “What about Dierdre?”

“Still in the wind…with the trailer,” Hank sighed.

“Shit,” she sighed.

“Is there anywhere she might’ve gone with it?” Monroe asked.

“…Probably not back to Oma’s, since the Sherriff is still watching it. I can ask the Libraries to keep an eye out for her, but some are…loyal to her. Loyal and afraid.”

“Anything helps…Right Nick?”

Nick started a bit but nodded. “Y-yeah, whatever you can do…”

“You okay?” Sloane asked, looking at him in concern.

Nick blushed a little at her focusing on him. He was still thinking about the dream world. Her “ideal” world the spell made for her made her, where she was happiest, had them in love. Living together. Kissing…How do I look at her when she doesn’t know I know that she loves me like that? Add to that the confession she gave him before they woke up and he honestly didn’t know what to think or do.

Hank’s phone going off saved him and he quickly pulled it out and answered. “Griffin…Okay, good. Stay with him. We're on our way.” He hanged up and looked at them. “That was Officer Franco. Captain's on his way into the precinct.”

He looked at Rosalee who sighed. “Alright. We'll start working on it, but I’m not giving it to him till we know for sure.”

Hank nodded but set a hand on Sloane’s shoulder as she made to stand. “Whoa, where do you think you’re going?”

“The precinct?” she asked, looking at them all.

“Nope, you just promised to take it easy and take your days off,” Nick said, letting his worry about her override the awkwardness.

“But—”

“No buts,” he said more firmly. “If you want to help, do the library thing and then check through your books for anything else.”

“…Okay,” she sighed.

“Did you want us to stay for a while?” Rosalee asked.

“No, go ahead and go to the shop. I’ll call you if anything turns up.” They nodded, all of them giving her a hug before heading out the door. Nick lingered slightly, unsure, but she patted his back. “I’m okay, really,” she said quietly.

He knew she thought he was just worried about her, and he was. But he was also worried about himself. He nodded and pulled back to follow Hank out.

After they left, Sloane sighed and stood to go into the spare room at the end of the hall to look through her books.

\-------------------

When she walked into the Spice Shop, Rosalee paused and scented the air. Something didn’t smell right. Monroe smelled it too and followed it to the back room, where they found a pile of glass and soggy herbs. “What the heck?” he said, going over to check it out.

“Oh no, that’s my grandmother’s old milk glass bowl…We used to use it for displays,” she said, frowning as she moved to pick up a shattered piece. Monroe stopped her.

“This…doesn’t feel right,” he said. “Why is it here like that?”

Rosalee realized he was right and quickly backed away. Looking around, she saw the back door had a hole in its glass. Someone had broken in. She quickly checked the safe where she kept cash and other valuables, but nothing was out of place or missing there. Monroe checked around but other than a few jars being out nothing was out of place on the shop floor either.

“I’m going to let Nick know someone broke in,” Monroe sighed, grabbing his phone.

“…I’m…going to call Adalind.”

“What? Why? You have her number?” he asked, pausing.

“I got it at the hospital. Because of the suppressant she talked about.”

“Oh, right…”

“But this feels like something a hexenbiest might know about,” she said, gesturing at the pile. “Might as well get started.”

“You sure that and the Dead Faint isn’t too much?” he asked, worried.

“Not sure, but I feel like the Juliette one might be more pressing considering what happened at the hospital,” she sighed. “I mean, they have their eyes on Renard now. So, if he’s a murderer, they’ll find out soon enough and stop him.”

“Fair enough…” He went to call Nick and she took out her own phone and dialed the number.

“Hello?” Adalind asked, hesitant.

“Hey, um…it’s me, Rosalee.”

“Oh, hey…is this about the suppressant?” she guessed.

“Yeah. And something else happened I’d like to ask about.”

“With Renard?”

“No, not exactly. We have a sort of plan for that. It’ll be easier to explain here, you know where my shop is?”

“Yeah, I do. Henrietta should be alright; she just has to rest up…how’s um…Sloane?”

“She’s doing alright,” Rosalee said, relaxing slightly. “She also has to rest.”

“Right. I’ll see you soon then.”

“Right.” They hanged up and Rosalee sighed.

“Nick asked if we wanted anyone to come take a look but since nothing super valuable was taken we’d just focus on the brewing today and that’s a no witnesses kind of a thing…” Monroe said, coming back.

“That’s fine…honestly, if I have to replace another window this year though,” she said, letting her frustration leak out.

“Hey, at least no one threw a brick at us,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “It was probably some dumb kids.”

“Maybe…but after everything we’ve been through I’m not taking a chance.”

\-------------------

The house was too quiet. Usually, Sloane liked quiet. It was restful and meditative. But this wasn’t that kind of quiet. It was the kind that made her realize she was alone in that house. Going through her books, her notes, just made her feel more alone with no one to discuss them with. _The me from two years ago would be disgusted,_ she thought with a rueful laugh.

She spent a little time online picking out things for the kitchen. She went ahead and bought new appliances, sending the info to Mim and Jean for when they would be delivered. Then flooring options…backsplash…light…It seemed like a lot, but she made her decisions fairly quickly since she wasn’t looking to make it anything super fancy.

And then nothing was left to distract her.

The quiet was getting to her. It made every sound make her think Dierdre was right outside. Her house was safe, she knew, but then she’d also known her grandmother’s house was safe. That didn’t stop Dierdre.

_Wherever she’s gone, I hope it’s away from here…but she still has the trailer…_

The rustling near the window had her jumping and grabbing a cross bow to load and aim. A very surprised squirrel on the branch outside ran for it as fast as it could. She sighed, rubbing over her face. “…Maybe I really shouldn’t be alone right now…” she mumbled.

\--------------------

“There's nothing in this one. Maybe we missed it,” Hank sighed, watching the play back on another security tape they got from one of the businesses near the murders.

“Maybe we're wrong,” Nick pointed out. He’d just finished his own play through and was trying to take a break and rest his eyes.

“Maybe we're just too damn tired,” he said. Nick smiled a bit in agreement. They had definitely been burning the candle at both ends lately with everything that was happening. Even his foray into the dreamworld hadn’t been restful, he’d woken up as tired as if he’d really spent hours awake. “What do we got left?”

He sighed and looked at the file folder. “Bank footage on Alder. Looking at it now.”

“There's more footage from West Burnside. I'll pull it up. All these cars are starting to look the same to me…” Hank added.

Nick was focused on the footage however and the SUV that rolled into frame with a familiar driver. “Whoa, wait. I got something.” Hank didn’t look terribly hopeful but stood and walked over to look. Nick pointed at the car. “Is that the captain's?”

Hank frowned and used the mouse to zoom in enough they could see the driver more clearly. It was definitely Renard. “It's him…”

Nick was double checking the time stamp and crime report he got from the other precinct. “It puts him in the area within one hour of the first killing…”

Hank looked up and nodded as the man in question rounded the corner after going to a meeting. “He's here.”

Renard saw them as well and looked a bit grim as he walked by their desk. “I need to see you both... now.” He continued on to his office without a second glance at anyone else.

They rose but Hank set a hand on Nick’s shoulder. “Hold on. Before we go in there, if he's dealing with what we think he's dealing with, who the hell are we gonna be talking to?”

“Or what?” Nick said, raising his eyebrows before walking towards the door.

“Okay, that didn't help at all!”

Renard hanged his coat up on the rack in the corner of the room, having to catch and adjust it quickly because his hands were shaking. He looked out the window as Nick and Hank walked in, Hank closing the door behind them. He tried to center his mind, but it was still racing. “There's something very wrong with me…I'm starting to think I'm losing my mind.”

“What happened?” Nick asked, alert.

He licked his lips nervously but turned to face them. “Last night, I thought I was bleeding again. I saw it. I felt it. It was real. Then I remember falling…Then I woke up, and I was in bed, as though nothing happened. And there was a voice. I heard... I heard this voice. I don't know,” he sighed.

“What did it say?” he asked, glancing at Hank who looked disturbed.

“…It said I’ve been bad. And that things were going to get worse.”

“Was it British?”

“I…what? Um…yes, I-I think…”

Hank felt a bit of dread in his stomach, walking forward to look at him squarely. “Then blacked out again?”

He nodded, looking worried. “Yeah…Yeah, I guess I did, after it spoke…How do you know this?”

“Do you remember driving about 11:30 three nights ago?” Nick asked quickly.

He blinked, looking confused but also trying to think. “What? Why?”

“We have some surveillance that puts your car at Northwest Couch and Second about that time,” Hank clarified.

“No, that... that wasn't me,” he shook his head, swallowing. “I was at home, asleep.”

“Your car was a couple of blocks away from where the first victim's body was found the same night, within an hour of the estimated time of death,” Nick said, pressing slightly.

He was shaking his head, pacing. “No…no, no, no, no. No, I would... I would remember something like that.”

“During a blackout?” Hank asked, unsure.

“I would remember something!” he nearly shouted. He quickly tried to regain his composure and they glanced at one another. They had never seen the captain this close to a break down.

Nick spoke again, calmly as possible. “We talked to Adalind. She said that when you died, a portal opened up. And when your mother did whatever she did to bring you back... you didn't come alone.”

Renard stared at him, a look of dawning horror coming to his face, but also resistance to the idea. “Are you saying that I'm possessed?”

“You're blacking out, waking up in places you don't remember, bleeding from where you were shot.”

“You know you went to see Henrietta, but you have no idea when you left,” Hank continued.

“Are you suggesting that I killed those women? Tried to-to kill Henrietta?” he asked, looking sick.

“We're suggesting you may no longer be in control of what you're doing,” Nick said.

“But it’s still me!”

“You told me once that it wasn’t my fault when I killed someone when I wasn’t in control. My case was self-defense—yours is you being used. It wouldn’t have been Sloane’s fault if one of us was hurt when she wasn’t in control either.” Man, this happens to us a lot…

“…Alright. But if that's true, what should I do? Lock myself up?”

“Monroe and Rosalee are working on something,” Hank said. “But until we figure it out, it may be a good idea for you to stay at home.”

“Under surveillance,” Nick added.

“No, no, no, no, no! I want to know what the hell is happening to me!” he shouted, losing his famous composure.

Hank’s hand went to his gun at his hip, eyeing him. “I know you’re scared…but you need to give us your gun, Captain,” he ordered.

Nick held out his hand, determined as well. Renard looked at them both and then closed his eyes, trying to calm down. “…All right.” He reached to his own hip and unclipped his gun. He looked at it a moment, thoughtful, before ejecting the clip and handing them both over to him. “Okay…But you have to know, whatever happened, it wasn't me.” He looked at them, desperate to be understood.

“We know. I remember,” Nick nodded, taking them and putting them in his jacket.

He nodded, breathing deeply as he thought about what to do next. “…I want someone watching me who understands.”

They glanced at one another, then out into the bullpen, knowing who that would mean. Renard watched them exit and pull Wu aside to explain what was going on. He looked shocked and a bit nervous but nodded readily enough. Then the Captain’s eyes followed Nick and Hank as they left the station to continue on their own work. A cold glint came to his eyes and the voice that came from him had a distinct accent. “Well, this should be a jolly good romp…”

\---------------------- 

“We’re going to have to do something about your old neighbors,” Kenneth said. He and Juliette were preparing, anticipating Kelly’s arrival for the next night.

“How do you mean?” She asked.

“Well, this may cause a lot of noise and disturbance. And it would be awkward if the police were called.”

“I think killing the neighbors might raise suspicion too,” she pointed out sarcastically.

“True…So I thought you might like to try your hand at this.” He held out a small book.

Juliette quirked her brow but took it, looking it over. It was about the size of yearly planner, with green dyed leather and parchment pages. She opened it and was surprised to find it was a small spell book. “Where’d this come from?”

“You can find many things with my connections. Granted it’s not much—Hexenbiests aren’t known for just giving away their books. But someone managed to copy a few spells from a few. Then got caught. Not sure what happened to him, but the book survived. I thought you might like it to practice with it. Call it my first repayment…or an investment,” he smiled.

Juliette hummed and flipped through it. “And you think something in here might be useful?”

“I may have marked one as a suggestion…non-lethal, if that matters to you.”

She flipped through more slowly and came to a bookmark, opening it up. “A knockout…fog?” She quirked a brow and read through it. ““Used to knock out a small group of people at a time, no adverse effects, lasts for three hours…do not use around open flames as it can ignite(?)’ Yeah, this could work. Seems pretty easy too.”

“That’s the spirit,” He smiled. “My other idea was the poison version, but you make a good point about the police. A sudden gas leak being investigated could get dicey. Make enough for four houses, that should hopefully keep us from being noticed.”

“I’ll need ingredients,” she reminded him.

“True, True, and your friends aren’t going to be willing to supply you of course. I’ll have someone go out and fetch everything.” He signaled to Rispoli who went to get one of his men.

Juliette hummed, flipping through the book again and paused at one near the end when something caught her eye. This was…not a harmless spell by any means. She glanced at Kenneth, wondering if he’d seen it, but then back to it. “…There’s another I’d like to try in here. I’ll need a few things for it.”

“What piqued your interest?” he asked curiously.

“Just something else I think Nick would find interesting…” she said. She showed him the page and he read it before his eyebrows rose.

“My…much more ambitious but if you use that on him…that could be quite interesting,” he smiled.

“Well I figure he could use another point of view…”

“And it’ll be interesting to see the other Grimm’s reaction too,” he chuckled. “Maybe you should find something for her in there.”

“Maybe I will. Or I’ll just kill her in front of him,” Juliette said, glaring at the thought.

“One thing after another. First Kelly. I doubt the fog will work on her…so things might get more violent. That alright with you?”

“Would I be here if it wasn’t?

He smiled and nodded, satisfied with the answer.

\--------------------------------

Adalind was looking through the mess left by the broken bowl in the corner, frowning. “…This…is the remains of a spell.”

“A spell?” Monroe asked in surprise.

“Yeah. I’m not certain what kind, but generally water, herbs, a glass bowl…they’re used for scrying.”

“Scrying? Like looking for something?” Rosalee asked.

“Yes, or looking at something. Hexenbiests and Zauberbiest can do rudimentary scrying without any help—basically if we’re familiar with an object or a person, we can use something to point us to it. A compass, a piece of wood, even just a feeling if we’re particularly attuned to the object or have a talent for it. It’s like…whistling. Some are good, some are okay, and some can’t do it. But it comes in handy if you can for finding things.”

“Like missing keys?” Monroe guessed.

“Exactly,” she nodded. “But this used herbs and likely a specific incantation to draw out their power and look at something or someone in particular. For that they’d need something similar too or from what they want to find. Blood, fibers, hair…and it’s not necessarily to find someone. It’s used for spying too.”

“So, someone broke into the shop to do a spell to find something or spy on someone…?” Rosalee asked, looking disturbed.

“Seems like it. But it wasn’t me,” she said quickly.

“No, we know. You were with us or Henrietta when it would’ve happened I’m pretty sure…” Rosalee sighed.

“What should we do with that?”

“The best thing to do is burn the herbs because they’re tainted by someone’s magic now. Then I’m afraid we have to get rid of the glass too. I can cleanse it but it’s pretty well broken…”

“That’s fine…Oh, the cameras!” Rosalee said.

“Right! I forget they’re there sometimes,” he said, going to grab the laptop from the safe. “We can look at the footage, see who our magical mystery guest is...”

Rosalee nodded and looked at Adalind as she was gathering things with a dustpan. “Oh, I can do that…”

“No, it’s better I do, we don’t know if there’s residual magic in it.” She dumped it into a nearby solid metal wastebasket. “If you can get me some salt and matches, that’ll work best for this.”

Rosalee nodded, going to grab them from the back. On the way back, she noted Monroe was frowning deeply at the screen. “What’s wrong?”

“I…found our culprit…” He turned the computer for her to see and her eyes widened.

“Juliette? Why is she…?”

“Juliette did it?” Adalind asked, walking over.

“Yeah, but I don’t see what she was scrying for…” Monroe said.

“It probably wouldn’t show up on camera…”

“But why would she break in to do it,” Rosalee asked, looking worried and frustrated.

“This would’ve been after she visited the hospital according to the time stamp, so I’m not sure…” Monroe sighed.

Adalind held her hands out and took the salt and matches. “I’m going to burn them all the same. I’m not taking any chances with her.” Rosalee nodded and watched her go burn them. “…On a related note, I am ready to do the suppressant I talked about.”

“Oh…? That’s good,” Rosalee said. “You have what you need?”

“Almost…the last ingredient I’m having delivered here, if that’s alright.”

“Uh…I suppose so. What is it?”

“I’m…hesitant to say.”

“…Why?” Monroe said suspiciously. There was a knock then and he sighed but walked over to open the door. “Sloane?”

“Hey…”

“Sloane! What are you doing here? You should be resting!” Rosalee said, coming around to her.

Sloane sighed, holding up her hands. “Rosalee, I just drove over, I didn’t overexert myself.”

“But why are you here? No offense,” Monroe said.

“…Just…bored,” Sloane said. Rosalee frowned at her more worriedly and she sighed. “I didn’t want to be alone, okay. The house is too…quiet.”

“I thought quiet would be nice after the last few days?” Adalind asked.

“Not when you’re alone with your thoughts about the last few days…” she pointed out dryly.

“Ah…I think I understand,” she nodded.

“Yeah,” Rosalee sighed, going over to put an arm around her and lead her to a seat in the work room. “You could’ve called…”

“I knew you’d probably be doing something. Thought I could help, keep my mind of a few things…” she smiled, patting her arm. “So, are we doing the Dead Faint?”

“Not yet,” Monroe sighed. “We’re thinking to do the suppressant for Juliette first.”

“As long as Nick and the others can keep an eye on the captain, things should be safer. But she’s…” She glanced at the laptop then back at Sloane. “She’s getting a little worrying.”

Sloane nodded a bit, unable to disagree. “Fair enough…”

“We’re waiting on an ingredient to be delivered,” Monroe went on. “Adalind won’t say what it is though.”

“Because none of you will like it…” she muttered.

“Oh, that’s not foreboding as hell,” Sloane said.

They sighed and looked up when the bell rang. “Guys?” Nick called.

“In here!” Monroe answered.

Nick and Hank came in and Nick stopped short when he saw Sloane. “What are you doing here?” he asked, immediately anxious.

“Guys, I’m not an invalid! I’m okay! Can’t I come help or talk without everyone worrying I’m going to keel over?” she said, looking at them all pleadingly.

“Okay, okay,” Hank said, putting a hand on her back. Between Renard and Sloane, it felt like the members of their circle that kept their cool the best were starting to crumble.

Sloane breathed deep. “Sorry…”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Nick said. “We’re all feeling a little run down…but you’re right, we should be sticking together.”

Sloane smiled, relaxing. “Thanks…I just really wanted to not be alone right now.” Nick blushed slightly and looked away, making her blink curiously.

“Did you find anything in your books about being possessed or someone like Jack the Ripper?” Hank asked.

Sloane shook her head with a sigh. “No. I looked through my quick references and absolutely nothing involving psychos cutting up bodies for no known reason was mentioned…”

Nick sighed as well. “We talked with Renard and we’re pretty sure he is possessed.”

“He’s having blackouts. Waking up places he can’t remember getting to. And he mentioned the bleeding…but also hearing voices. British voices,” Hank sighed.

“Oh, that is not good,” Monroe said, grimacing. “Maybe we should work on the Dead Faint first…”

“I don’t think we’ll have time, or space here in a few minutes,” Adalind said, coming out from the side of the room she’d hanged around when Nick came in.

Nick was surprised to see her then looked at the others. “What’s this about?”

“…I have a way to suppress Juliette’s powers,” she said.

“What?” He looked at Monroe and Rosalee in shock.

“We were going to tell you,” Monroe said, looking awkward. “But then whole “Jack the Ripper” thing kind of caught our attention.”

“So, there’s a cure?” he asked hopefully.

“No, not a cure. A suppressant,” Adalind said. “Basically, sealing her powers away so she can’t use them anymore.”

Nick frowned as he thought that over. “You’re sure suppressing it is all you can do?” Nick asked, feeling a little bitterness. “I mean, she’ll still be one. What good does suppressing it do?”

“Well, a lot, if it works,” she said, looking put out.

“If it works?”

“It’s not like I’ve done this before!” she said defensively. “I’m not going around suppressing wesen abilities like you all, even for good reasons.”

They looked at one another and he sighed. “What kind of side effects this time?”

“I’m not sure. Again, not something I’ve done personally,” she sighed, rubbing her temples. “This isn't about changing her. This is so that she can live a normal... life. So, it should be like just pushing her hexenbiest side down and making her human side the dominant one. Unable to shift. That’s what you want, right?”

“…I don’t know what I want right now. But I don’t think we can leave her as she is,” Nick sighed.

“I fully agree. Especially if Kenneth has been in contact with her…”

“Kenneth?”

“The Royal currently trying to get Diana,” she sighed. “I’ve been meaning to bring you all up to date on that too…way too much going on.”

“This is pretty normal for us,” Sloane said. “But what’s this about the royals?”

“He’s one of the princes. He wants to use Juliette to get Diana. He was going to use me for a bargaining chip. I don’t know what he’ll use now but he’s not going to give up. Him having Juliette on his side could be big trouble…But he thinks she’ll be able to figure out where your mother is.”

Nick frowned deeply at the thought.

“We've been through the book that you used,” Rosalee said, changing the subject. “There's nothing about what you're saying.”

“It's not in the book, specifically,” she said delicately. “My mother's aunt told me about this when my mother was going through a very tough time…”

“Tough enough to want to suppress her?” Sloane asked.

She sighed and nodded. “When I was in high school, my mother was accused of sleeping with a judge to get a verdict. They suspended her cases, started looking into things, and she was pissed. I mean, she may use magic on occasion, but she never slept with someone to get her way. She was an actually talented lawyer. She was determined to find out who told the bar and she was going to make them pay. Things that honestly made us both worried she was going to go off the deep end and go full Beldam. Uh, that’s what we call truly evil witches who usually hang out in woods and kill people for spells and just generally cause chaos for the hell of it,” she clarified.

“So white witches—” Hank started.

“Weisse Hexe,” she corrected.

“Yeah, they’re like…good witches who help people. And Beldam are the opposite.”

“Yes. Most Hexe and Zauber fall somewhere in the middle—we’re not saints, but we can unlearn it or at least learn how to better deal with it without becoming so selfish we just kill anything that gets in our way. Or for fun. My great aunt didn't end up doing it, but she explained the process to me. I couldn’t forget it because it’s…intense. And it's not easy, and there is one ingredient that's almost impossible to get…” She looked at her watch. “But it should be here any minute now…”

“What is it?” Monroe asked again.

She hesitated, and before she said anything there was a knock at the back door. She quickly went over and opened it and there was a small group of men in work coveralls and a gurney waiting at the door. “Ah, right on time…come this way.” She led them to the work room and the others got out of the way as the wheeled the gurney in—and froze when they saw the long, black bag resting on it. The men lifted the bag and set it on the table where she directed, and then just as blasely left with the gurney and without the bag.

“…Is that…” Monroe started.

“A body bag?!” Rosalee finished, jaw dropping.

“Yes. Because the most important ingredient to this is a dead hexenbiest.”

They all paused, looking at one another then back at her. “Shit…” Sloane said.

“Yeah. That’s why this is considered one of the darker spells too. But lucky for you, it just so happened that I knew where a dead Hexenbiest is buried.”

“You did?” Hank asked, eyeing the bag as if thinking it would suddenly sit up.

“Yeah. That would be my mother. Your mother killed her. Remember?” she said, looking at Nick.

“…She said it was an accident. She was trying to find out how to help Juliette at the time,” he explained, not looking at her. There wasn’t a sorry in there, since there was still some bitterness and blame to go around, but the tone wasn’t blameless.

“…Yeah. Well, as long as we're digging up the past, we may as well dig up my mother. I managed to get Sean to sign off on it this morning before you had him on house arrest.”

“That’s…good. But you had it delivered here?” Rosalee said.

“Where else were we going to do this?”

“…Well…I guess we’ll get started,” she sighed.

“Uh…We’ll let you do what you need to do, since we’re not going to do the dead faint today,” Hank said.

“Yeah, we’re going to keep figuring out what’s going on with Renard, make sure he doesn’t get into trouble,” Nick agreed, both of them backing away.

“Do you guys need help?” Monroe called hopefully as they were going out the door.

“I have everything else we need in my car…I’ll get it and we can get started,” Adalind said.

\-----------------

Juliette put a pinch of wormwood into the pot and smiled as it turned a bright green as it bubbled around. The first batch she’d had to dump when it boiled over. She took the rest of the morning to very carefully measure out and brew the next. She walked over and looked out at Kenneth. “It’s done.”

He smiled and walked in, looking at it. “I’m afraid I can’t tell it is…”

“You want to test it?” she guessed.

He smiled and gestured to a man nearby. He looked a bit unsure but walked over. “Don’t worry, it’ll just let you take a little nap.”

“Yes…your highness,” he sighed, walking over.

Juliette waved her hand and the mist simmering around the top swirled up into almost a cyclone. It twisted through the air and to the man, who breathed in a gasp when it went up to his nostrils. After a moment his eyes closed, and he looked completely relaxed. Kenneth arched a brow and subtly pushed at his shoulder and he went down like tower of cards. He was still breathing though, and even began to snore. Kenneth grinned. “Well! I am impressed. I knew you could do it, of course, but you learn incredibly quickly.”

Juliette smiled. “I’ll bottle it up for later. Now I want to work on my spell for Nick.”

“Already?”

“He might show up. I need to be ready,” she smiled.

“Point taken. You have everything you need.”

“Almost. Think your man will miss a little blood?” she asked, eyeing the sleeping guard.

Kenneth quirked a brow but smiled as he turned to leave. “Try not to kill him. Bodies are hard to get rid of this high up.”

\------------------

“Captain’s still at the precinct,” Wu said into the phone. “He seems normal…A little tense, but normal.”

“Well, maybe we’re wrong,” Hank sighed. He didn’t sound convinced though, given the captain’s breakdown that morning.

“I’d like it if that were true, but I’m not holding my breath,” Nick sighed as well.

“I’ll keep watch on him tonight I guess, provided I can sleep tomorrow…”

“I think we’ll work that out,” Nick agreed. “Keep us posted.”

“Will do,” he hanged up and Nick sighed.

“…How’re you doing?” Hank asked.

“…That’s a loaded question,” Nick sighed.

“Like a gun?”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Getting worried about pulling the trigger.”

“That’s a metaphor, right?”

“Yeah,” Nick said, smiling at the worried tone. “I’m just…a lot keeps happening and it’s not slowing down. At least even when we had cases we’d get a breather. Now I just keep worrying what’s around the corner.”

“Yeah…I feel that way too. But I know it’s gotta be worse for you, and for Sloane, so I wasn’t sure I should say it,” he said. “Like, can I complain given what’s happen to you guys?”

Nick shrugged. “As long as I can complain more.” Hank chuckled and took a sip of his soda. Nick sighed, looking thoughtful, before looking at Hank. “Hey, um…can I ask your advice?”

“Always. Can’t guarantee the quality though. Especially if it’s wesen related.”

“It’s not…um…So, someone…confessed their love to me.”

Hank choked on his soda, coughing in surprise. “Whoa, what?!”

“…Do I take that personally?” Nick asked coolly.

Hank smiled, wiping his mouth. “Sorry, just wasn’t expecting that…but for real? Like actually just told you they were in love with you?”

“Yeah…really…eloquently, too.”

“Creepy eloquently?”

“No, not creepy, I…honestly was kind of touched,” he admitted.

“…Was this a girl?”

“I-yes?” he asked, thrown for a moment.

“Hey, no shame if it wasn’t man. I’ve met plenty of men who made me wonder if I was straight.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah. Honestly, still not always sure, but I know what I like in a woman at least. But back to you, it was a girl? Do I know her?”

Nick inwardly panicked but schooled his face into just looking mildly nervous. “Yes…but I don’t want to say who it is. She was already really embarrassed saying it to me, I don’t want to…make it worse.”

Hank pouted a moment but nodded. “Fair enough…So what did you say back?”

“…“I’m sorry”…” Nick said, looking away.

“…You didn’t,” Hank said, looking at him askance.

“I didn’t know what else to say!” Nick groaned. “She already knew I love Juliette.”

“And she still told you?” he asked, surprised now.

“I…found out kind of awkwardly,” Nick said. “And she just owned it.”

“Wow…that’s and interesting lady.”

“Yeah…” he sighed in agreement.

Hank eyed him. “Are you…interested in her?”

“No…I…” He sighed heavily. “I like her. A lot. She’s a really good friend. But I never thought of her like that before then. And I do still love Juliette. But…I can’t forget what she said,” he muttered. “Or her face when she said it. How she said she wanted me not to know till she could get over me, knowing I love Juliette and didn’t want to make things awkward and…Now I don’t know how to act around her.”

“…Well, she doesn’t want things to be awkward. So, I guess, until you know what you want or what’s going to happen with Juliette…just keep trying to act normal.”

“You make it sound easy…”

“Well, she acted normal around you before, right?”

“…Yeah…”

“Then you can be normal around her. If you and Juliette can figure something out after all this, great. If not…well, that’s going to be up to you and her. If you don’t want to, she’ll understand if she understood before. If you miss your chance, well, that’s just how it is sometimes. Move on, try to keep being friends, do what you gotta do.”

“…You sound so wise when it comes to this,” Nick said, smiling a little.

“Hey, I may be divorced twice, but I learned from both,” he smiled.

Nick smiled and tipped his soda to him when he gestured and sipped on it. He thought on Hank’s words and knew he was right. But ‘miss your chance’ stuck out to him. Would Sloane move on before he knew what he wanted? Would that be a relief or a disappointment? He wasn’t sure.

\-----------------

The cauldron was boiling with the initial ingredients on a small wood burning travel stove, a few feet away from the worktable where the body bag still rested. Adalind knew it was time and took a deep breath before reaching up to pull the zipper. As expected, inside was a desiccated corpse, at least a year dead, a little more. The skin was mottled brown, purple and yellow with age and decay. Cheeks sallow, lips curled back over straight, still white teeth. Hair blonde, but dull rather than shiny. Adalind winced a bit when she could still recognize her mother. Then they all winced at the stench and Rosalee quickly lit a few candles to try and make it more bearable. Inadvertently, it set an even eerier ambiance given they had the windows all tightly covered by curtains or shutters.

“Is this strictly healthy?” Sloane asked.

“As long as you’re not calling the health inspector on us right now, it should be fine,” Monroe said. “I mean, we’re going to clean really well after this. Promise.”

“You better, I’ve heard horror stories like this about the kind of stuff you can catch off dead bodies…no offense.”

“None taken,” Adalind sighed.

“You sure you’re ready for this?” Rosalee asked.

“No, but we gotta do it,” she said. “I had a complicated relationship with my mother when she was alive…dead doesn’t make it easier.”

Sloane nodded a bit. “Yeah, I can understand that better than you might think…though mine is still alive.”

“Not for much longer when I get ahold of her…” Rosalee said darkly. Sloane didn’t argue but huffed a breath. Rosalee looked at Adalind. “So…ready?”

“Yes, I think I remember where everything is…” Adalind said slowly, pulling on a pair of rubber gloves.

Sloane tilted her head, then noted it was an anatomy book she was reading from. _Oh…yikes…_

Adalind picked up a scalpel nearby and moved to make an incision. She hesitated, moved again, but then groaned and set it down. “I can’t! I’m sorry, I know I have to, but I can’t…Whatever she’s done, however much I resent her…I still love her,” she said quietly. “I can’t cut her up…”

Rosalee frowned in sympathy and looked to her husband. “Monroe?”

“Me?” he asked, taken aback. “I…I’m vegan.”

Rosalee rolled her eyes in frustration.

“…I’ll do it.”

They looked at Sloane and she shrugged. “What? Not the first dead body I’ve handled or cut up. I’ve dealt with several nests of Geiers in the past. Though usually they’re fresher…But I know the gist.” Adalind nodded gratefully, taking off the gloves and handing them to her. Sloane slipped them on and accepted the scalpel as well. “What do we need?”

“Tongue, liver, gallbladder…and four ribs,” Adalind said, stepping back.

“Right…okay,” she sighed, rolling up her sleeves and then pulling her shirt up over her nose. They were confused till she pressed the scalpel in and made the incision. The stench of rotting meat and the chemicals that delayed it for a time filled the air even thicker and they all backed up and coughed as they tried to get it out of their senses. Once the incision was large enough she set the scalpel aside and pushed her hand in. “Alright…got the liver. And this is the gallbladder…” She pulled them both out and the others all swallowed bile. “Where do you want them?”

“Uh…here,” Monroe sighed, taking them in his own gloved hand and quickly going to the cauldron. He plopped them in, gagging a little.

“Alright…next is the tongue. Uh, gonna need someone to open her mouth…” Sloane said, looking at them. Monroe grimaced but reached up and pinched the corpse’s jaw in his hands, pulling it open. The crack made them all wince, but Sloane picked up a pair of tongs and the scalpel. “How much do we need? Am I going to the root?”

Adalind shook her head, closing her eyes. “N-No, just the main part…”

She nodded and started work. Monroe was looking up at the ceiling to try and avoid seeing what she was doing, his own mouth working in sympathy.

“So…how long does this have to cook?” he asked.

Adalind cleared her throat, also trying not to look. “Um, I’m not sure, but I think we’ll know when it’s ready…”

Monroe nodded and Sloane finished sawing through the tongue and pulling it out. “Okay, got it.”

Rosalee took it in her gloved hand, racing over to throw it in and backing away at the slight splash. “Great…last is the ribs. I have a hammer and chisel over there.”

Sloane wrinkled her nose. “That’s a bit too messy…I’ll be right back.” She went out the side door and they all looked at one another in confusion. Moments later she returned, smiling a little. “I keep these in my car for emergencies.” She snipped a pair of bolt cutters for emphasis and they all jumped at their size.

“What kind of emergencies, break ins?” Adalind asked.

“Yes,” she said as if it were obvious.

“…Okay, now I feel silly for asking.”

“The point is, this will get them a lot quicker and easier. It’s what heart surgeons often use. Guess I lucked out I didn’t need them…”

“Don’t even joke,” Rosalee said, shuddering at the thought.

Sloane smiled wanly, then looked at Adalind. “…Look, if you want to go in the next room till we’re done…”

She sighed but nodded. “Yeah…Yeah, I’d appreciate that.”

“There’s a mini fridge in the back with some drinks,” Rosalee said. Adalind smiled gratefully and headed to go there.

It took a little time, what with having to butterfly her skin off, but Sloane got the ribs with a few cracks of the bolt cutters.

“Where’d you learn this stuff?” Monroe asked, putting the ribs in a pile. He then helped her close the body back up and zip her into the body bag.

“I had to hunt sometimes for food. I learned how to dress down dear, rabbits, boars…”

“Boars?” Rosalee asked in surprise. She was pulling a large machine out from a cabinet in the corner and setting it up while they got the body put back away.

“Yeah, or wild hogs I guess sometimes technically. You don’t stay kosher long when you’re hungry. Plus, it was good practice with a polearm.”

“…Oh God, this was when you were a kid again?” Rosalee asked, knowing the pattern.

“Teen mostly…What’s that?” She asked, looking at the machine curiously while she zipped the body bag back up. The machine was large, tall, and had a funnel on one end.

“This is…”

“A grinder. For the ribs,” Adalind said, coming back inside. “I found these in the back…we probably should wear them.” She held up paper masks and some safety goggles and Rosalee nodded in thanks as she took them and put them on, the others following suit.

“So, after this, how long until after this it’s ready?” Monroe asked.

“It’ll have to brew for a while to get down to where we need it…” Adalind sighed. “But we’ll know when it’s ready.”

“And what do we do with…?” Rosalee looked at the body bag.

“Ah…grab my phone. I need to keep stirring but you can call to have her picked up, it’ll be the top number in history.”

Rosalee nodded and went to go call.

It was a couple of hours and close to sundown before Nick and Hank arrived back. The men had come in that time to take Catharine back to her final resting place as well and the smell was starting to finally leave the shop. “Hey…how’s it going?” Nick asked.

“Just waiting for the sign…” Adalind said. Nick quirked a brow and looked at the others, who just shrugged in response. “Sign?”

“Yeah, it’s—ah, there we go!” He looked in at the green concoction simmering in the small cauldron. He felt a little chill when he saw a skull form in the bubbles rising to the surface. “The skull means it’s ready.”

“The what now?” Monroe asked. He leaned over and grimaced. “Oh, that’s…encouraging.”

“It actually is. Now we just have to strain it.”

“I’ve got a colander, or a mesh strainer, which would be better?” Rosalee said, starting for her equipment.

“Neither. We use this,” she said, picking up the witch’s hat from the sideboard. “Good thing Renard left it here…”

“The…hat?” Sloane asked dubiously.

“It’s a magic hat, remember? Here, get that jar, it should be big enough.” Rosalee grabbed a large mason jar for her and set it on the table. Adalind held the hat over it with the pointed end facing the jar, then nodded to Monroe. He grabbed the cauldron with the industrial oven mitts and tipped it to pour into the large end. Like a funnel the green liquid went in the large opening, and then ran out the other end clear as bottled water. Sloane, Hank and Nick looked at one another in surprise but watched as it filled up the jar.

“I think that's all of it,” Monroe said, making sure the last drop fell in.

“It looks like water,” Rosalee said.

Adalind examined it and nodded, though her expression didn’t look like she was entirely happy. “Won't taste like it…” She sniffed it and then recoiled, twisting her lip. “Yep, it's pure now.”

“Now all we have to do is get Juliette to take it,” Rosalee sighed.

“Oh, that'll be a snap, 'cause, you know, the last time she took something we gave her, boy, that worked out like gangbusters,” Monroe snarked.

“And if she thinks Adalind had anything to do with it, she'll never take it,” Nick sighed.

“Let’s be honest, she might not want to take it anyway,” Sloane sighed. “She likes the power. Plus, and no offense, how do we know it would work? Didn’t Henrietta say Grimm blood wouldn’t work on Juliette? Will this?”

“It should work on any hexenbiest, regardless of what they’ve gone through in the past or how they became one. But there’s one way to find out…” Adalind sighed.

“What’s that?”

“I’ll take it first. Give it a test. If it works me, it'll work on her.”

They were all shocked a moment, looking at one another and then back at Adalind. “I…you’d do that?” Nick asked.

“I don't have a choice. If she stays a Hexenbiest, I'm dead. Plus, if it does work…A small dose might work on Diana. Keep her safe for a while. Then we’d just be normal and…” She looked at Sloane and Sloane looked back before nodding.

“I can’t promise anything…but that would be a good way to work that out.”

“Then I’ll take a chance.” She took a deep breath and brough the jar up to her lips before they could say anything else. She took several sips—almost like she was trying to get rid of the hiccups—until about a quarter of the potion was gone. She sat down and shook herself, gagging and shuddering and gasping “Ugh! God!”

“How do you feel?” Nick asked, eyeing her a little worriedly.

“Like I just drank my mother…” she said, sneering a little at the question.

They all winced but watched her for a moment as she swayed and tried to keep the potion down. “How long before we know if stuff is, you know, doing anything?” Monroe asked.

“Mm…Not too long.” She urped and looked nauseated as she screwed the jar’s lid on. “I think I want to sit down. Mm…” She walked over to the day bed and sat down, trying to breathe deeply.

“Is everything okay?” Sloane asked, uncertain.

“Mm…You better hold me down.”

They all blinked. “What?” Nick asked, unsure if he heard her right.

“All of you, just hold me down,” she ordered more forcefully. They got up as she laid down and each took a limb—Nick and Rosalee at her arms, Monroe and Hank at her feet. Sloane moved to help but Nick shook his head. She frowned but stood back.

“Okay…we got you,” he said.

She nodded then gripped his shirt. “Oh, God…Here it comes!” She woged and began to wail—a sound that scraped down their spines like a razor. She began shaking as if being thrown around and the four had to put their weight on her to keep her from flipping off the bed. “Don't let go!” Adalind screamed. She opened her mouth wide and it was like her hexenbiest form tore away from her. It screamed again, the room shaking as it writhed in the air above her, clawing as if trying to grab hold of something and anchor itself to the world.

The room was shaking so hard they heard glasses clattering. Rosalee looked towards the table in time to see the jar dancing to the edge. “Sloane, the jar!”

Sloane jolted and looked at the table. She dove just as it tipped and caught it, breathing out in relief. “Got it!” The relief was short lived when the sound of cracking glass echoed through the room. She looked at the jar, scared she’d broken it, but it was fine. Then another crack and she looked up in time to see the skylight above the worktable breaking apart. She quickly curled up, covering her face as glass rained down on her.

“Sloane!” Nick yelled.

“I’m fine!” she yelled back.

The hexenbiest spirit then was finally sucked back into Adalind’s body and the shaking stopped. Adalind’s face rippled back to her human one and her head lulled to the side, exhausted. Rosalee pressed her fingers to her neck. “…I have a pulse.”

Nick nodded, relieved, and then let go of her arm to go help Sloane. She was shaking her head, trying to get the glass out of her hair. He swept the biggest pieces out of the way with his foot and then reached down. “Give me your hand.”

Sloane looked up with an unreadable expression for a moment but then did so and he pulled her to her feet. “Thanks…”

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, just surprised me more than anything…Can we please limit our exorcisms to once a month in the future,” She asked wryly. Nick snorted and nodded with an agreeing smile. He then suddenly fitted his arms around her. Sloane blushed, then gasp as he lifted her up, swing her around and set her on her feet away from the glass. Sloane was tempted to point out this wasn’t necessary as she was wearing her boots, but just managed a nod. “…Thank you.”

“You’re welcome…”

They heard Adalind groan and stepped carefully back over to her. Her eyes fluttered open and she grunted. “What happened?”

“Well…things got a little intense,” Nick said, looking at the glass and a few other things that toppled over.

“Mm. Yeah, they did,” she agreed, looking as well while still lying down. “Did I hear somebody scream?”

“Yeah. That would be you,” Monroe said.

“Oh…That's why it sounded so close,” she grunted. She moved to push herself up and they all tried to tell her not to, but she shook her head a little. “No, I need to sit up…” She managed to get to a sitting position, wiping the sweat from her face. Breathing a moment, she looked up at them. “Well, I guess we should see if it worked.”

“I think you should just lie down,” Rosalee said.

“No, I need to know if this made a difference,” Adalind said, determined. She took a breath then looked at them. “You all better stand back. Just in case.” They quickly did so, Monroe taking Rosalee’s hand as they grouped together. Adalind sighed and her head did the tilting motion Nick and Sloane often saw when someone woged. Her face rippled just slightly…but remained human. She looked curious and did it again, with even less rippling. A third time and there was no outward sign. Nodding, she then looked around and pointed to a bottle of amber liquid on a nearby table. Crooking her finger, the bottle moved forward, but slowed and stopped inches from the edge. She tried again and nothing happened. She sighed, looking conflicted but nodding. “Well, I...I guess I'm…suppressed.” There was a slight crack in her voice, as if she were about to cry. It was hard not to remember how this felt before—like a part of her had died inside her. It wasn’t quite as dramatic as that—it felt more like a limb falling asleep. Numb, staticky. There but useless. But she felt powerless too all over again. Nick frowned a bit. He’d felt a little bad for taking her powers before, when she’d left looking so lost and inconsolable. He knew how this must be for her. But to know she had willingly done it, to prove to them she could help… “Now all you need is Juliette,” Adalind said, forcing a smile.

“That might be the hardest part,” Sloane sighed, setting the jar on the table now that they were out of the danger zone.

“Could we shoot it into her?” Monroe asked. “Like, with a tranq gun?”

“It has to be taken orally. At least three tablespoons,” Adalind sighed. “And I doubt we can trick her because she’s going to notice that smell, trust me…”

“…Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Nick sighed, pulling out his phone.

\----------------

Juliette finished clamping down the jar lid. The liquid inside was a black, brackish red. She eyed it, both critical and unsure.

“All done?” Kenneth asked.

“Yes…it needs to rest for a night.”

“So, do we. Kelly will be here tomorrow night if she’s sticking to her word.”

“I’m sure she is. No reason to lie to me that she knows of.” She heard her phone ring and frowned, going over to it. “Nick’s calling me again.

Kenneth chuckled. “The man doesn’t know when to give up,” he laughed. Then he paused. “Answer it. We need to keep him occupied.”

Juliette looked unsure but he motioned for her to hurry and she sighed and accepted the call. “Nick?”

“Juliette…you picked up,” he sighed.

“I did. What do you want?” she asked, impatient.

“Can’t we just…talk?” he asked hopefully.

“If that’s all you called to do, you’re out of your mind. But I doubt that’s the case. What do you want?” she said.

“…We found a way to help you.”

“Help me?” she asked snidely.

“Yes. We have a suppressant.”

“A suppressant?” she parroted again, this time in surprise. Kenneth looked surprised as well.

“We tested it, and it will work,” Nick said, hopeful since she hadn’t just hung up on him.

“I thought you said there wasn't a cure…Rosalee and Henrietta both said...”

“It wasn’t easy to find or make, but we did it. This can help. Juliette, this will work.” He took a deep breath and Kenneth looked close to laughing when it sounded like he was tearing up. “I get that I handled this badly…I get that I hurt you. And I’m sorry, I really am. But what you’re doing…if you keep doing this, you’ll leave us all behind. Us, your family, your friends, your life…you won’t be able to go back. And even…even if you don’t want all of it back…If you don’t’ want me back, this is for the best. You can move on, find someone…be happy. But I know there’s still the part of you, the realest part, that doesn’t want to hurt us. And if you give that up, there’s no going back.”

“…When?” Kenneth’s brows rose when she asked the question, but Nick shuddered out a breath of surprise and relief.

“Now? At the Spice Shop?” he asked hopefully.

“Okay.” She hanged up before he said anything else.

“…May I ask what you’re doing?” Kenneth said, eyeing her critically.

“Call me curious,” she said. “And also tired. I want them to stop trying to take my power away from me. So, I’ll show them I’m not letting them.”

Kenneth smiled and nodded. “Very well…have fun.”

“Oh, I will,” she smiled, walking to the door.

\-----------

“She’s on her way here,” Nick said, looking surprised as he walked back in.

“Now?” They all asked.

“Uh, yeah…?”

“I have to go,” Adalind said, standing. “She’ll kill me if she sees me.”

“Are you okay to drive?” Hank asked uncertainly.

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’m feeling…okay.”

Nick nodded. “Thank you…”

She smiled. “Gotta clean up my messes somehow…Let me know how it goes.” She headed out the side and to her car to head back to Henrietta’s house. She picked up food on the way, including a small chocolate cake she may very well eat on her own on the way.

“Adalind? You’re back?”

“Yeah…” she said, feeling sudden trepidation. How her mother reacted to her coming home without her powers came to mind.

Henrietta smiled from reading in the study and then paused and rose. “Oh…Adalind, what…?” Just like her mother, she could tell that her powers were gone.

“…Had to test the suppressant…” she said quietly. “And this way…maybe they’ll really trust me.”

“Oh dear…” she sighed and walked over, hugging her slightly. “Honey, I understand what you’re trying to do, but you shouldn’t keep torturing yourself to gain their trust…”

“It’s not as bad as before…I’ll be okay,” she sighed. But she was also a little relieved at how Henrietta handled things.

“It’s been a long day, huh?” she asked knowingly. “With what you had to do…”

“Yeah…Mom’s body is going back to the cemetery…I just need to rest.”

She nodded, helping her into the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Nick was pacing with agitation, waiting for Juliette to arrive. They were gathered in the main shop floor—Hank leaning against the counter Sloane was sitting on, Monroe at the door waiting, and Rosalee holding the jar nervously between the counter and the door.

Eventually Monroe perked up and took a breath. “She's here…” Nick paused, and Monroe opened the door. He tried to smile, but it was awkward at best, nervous at medium, and downright scared at least. “Juliette…”

Juliette just smiled and actually looked like she enjoyed the expression and the way he couldn’t meet her eyes. “Hey, Monroe. Rosalee. Hank…” She paused, looking Sloane over a moment. “Sloane. Nick.” She glanced around, mock curious. “Anybody else? I mean, this is an intervention, right?”

“Basically…” Sloane said, eyeing her back. She had a bad feeling, especially with the look she received. _What did I do to piss her off that bad? The fight at the trailer? I fought to not kill you, ingrate!_

“Juliette, we all know this is... It's a little bit awkward, but, really, it's for the right reason,” Rosalee said, adjusting her grip on the jar.

“Fixing me?”

Nick sighed but didn’t bother sugar coating it. “Yes.”

“Such good friends,” she sneered. “But how did this happen, this special medicine? How did you suddenly figure it out?”

“The books,” Hank said.

“From the trailer? Oh, wait…Sloane’s mother stole that, didn’t she?” She turned her gaze to her, and Sloane frowned.

“I got books too.”

“Hmm, that is true…but then, I already know who helped you before. I got a chance to see her. When she connected you two together,” she said, gesturing between Nick and Sloane.

“What?” Nick asked. He looked at Monroe and Rosalee who winced.

“We…weren’t sure how to tell you,” Monroe said. “She came and…wasn’t happy.”

“She almost ruined the spell,” Rosalee said, not looking at Juliette.

“That’s putting it mildly. I could’ve trapped you two together in your little dream world. Bet you’d love that,” Juliette laughed. “Oh, but me, I was pretty livid…getting Adalind’s help. After all she did. It was that easy?”

“You didn’t want to help,” Nick said, trying not to sound accusatory.

“No, I didn’t want to be convenient,” she spat back. “But hey, it worked out, huh? And that must’ve been fun, right? I mean, you two, alone, in your own little world…”

Sloane flushed on reflex and Nick tried to keep his face schooled. “Juliette, that…doesn’t matter now. What matters is you taking this. It will work and then you don’t have to worry about this anymore,” he said.

“And come back to you?” she asked.

“…That’s up to you. Regardless of how you feel. But if you can’t forgive me, you at least have to take this because your powers are dangerous,” he said, not looking at her.

“…You claim it works. So, that means you've tried it on, what, a Fuchsbau?” she said, looking at Rosalee who looked away. “No. A Blutbad? I doubt it.” Monroe looked away as well. “Wouldn't that mean you'd have to try it on a Hexenbiest to make sure it works? And if it was Adalind…well, that makes things fun. For me.”

“Juliette, take it. And we can...” he tried again.

“Oh, it's "we" again?” she bit out.

“Look, Juliette, we're just trying to help you get back what you lost,” Monroe said.

She looked at him, narrowing her eyes. “And what have I “lost”? Because it seems like I’ve just gained things since then. Power. Clarity. A new life.”

“What about morals? Your job? Your friends?” Sloane said, losing patience.

“That’s rich, coming from you,” she laughed. “How many did you kill over the years? And what, you suddenly want to be “good” and you think that erases that?”

Sloane flushed but then glared. “When did this become about me? Whatever I did, I’m trying to make up for. You on the other hand are spiraling down so far you’re going to get someone killed-”

“Sloane!” Nick bit out. Sloane frowned at him but huffed and looked away. Nick sighed and took the potion from Rosalee, holding it out to Juliette. “Take it. Please. This needs to end, and even if you don’t come back to me, I can’t…let you keep going down this path.”

She eyed him before sighing and taking the jar. “Well, all right. Let's just get this over with.” She stared at the potion for a long moment, looking pensive. Then the shop began to shake as though there was an earthquake. Rosalee looked around in shock and Sloane hopped off the counter while the men braced themselves.

“Juliette, stop!” Nick shouted.

It did stop but she looked at him. “You’re right about one thing…I’m not coming back to you.” She sent the jar rocketing skywards.

“No, Juliette! It's all we've got!” Rosalee shouted, moving to stop her. With a simple wave of her hand, Juliette sent her flying back into the upper shelves behind her, breaking them and several jars before she fell hard to the floor.

“Rosalee!” Sloane and Monroe shouted, Sloane moving to her.

Monroe woged, snarling at Juliette. She moved her hand and sent him sprawling as well and the jar crashed to the ground, the hard-won potion splattering across the floorboards. Hank drew his gun, but she sent it flying across the room before he could take the safety off. Monroe crawled over to his wife and Sloane stood and grabbed a jar nearby but gasped as she felt her whole body seize before she could throw it. “When are you all gonna learn that I like who I am?” she asked darkly.

Nick drew his gun then and pointed it at her. “Well, we don't.”

She glared and then woged, her eyes burning for him as her rotted teeth clattered out a hiss. “Well, that's just too damn bad. You made me. Now get used to it.” She raised her hand and Nick’s eyes widened as he felt like invisible hands were all over him. The pushed and pulled, making him twist around to face Monroe and Rosalee.

“Nick?”

“Oh, my God,” they said, holding each other.

“She's doing it!” Nick yelled, his body still moving on its own. “I've got no control!”

Monroe pushed Rosalee away and she gasped as she stumbled back, and Hank pulled her further away.

“You know…I think let’s make this richer,” Juliette hissed. She crooked her other hand and Sloane took a jerky step forward, then another until she was side by side with Monroe. She was trying to fight it, but it felt like she was wrapped in coiled rope and forced to move. “Choose, Nick. Which one dies?”

Nick’s eyes widened and both Monroe and Sloane looked at him with a touch of fear as they were lined up, overlapping, no clear shot between them.

“Let go of the gun!” Monroe shouted.

“I can't stop it!” Nick shouted.

“Go on! Grimm’s best friend or your new girl!” Juliette taunted.

Sloane gritted her teeth, closing her eyes as she tried to move. As she did, her skin paled and opening her eyes, they were black with a white pupil burning at Juliette. Juliette froze a moment, remembering that day at the trailer when Sloane came close to killing her. “Let us go,” she said out, her voice reverberating at the back of Juliette’s skull. It made her hair stand on end and her powers flinched, as though sensing a predator in the room, but then she growled and clenched her hand.

Hank was thankfully faster and tacked both Monroe and Sloane to the ground as the gun fired, striking the shelf just where their shoulders and been. Juliette smiled, hiding the moment of fear she’d experienced. “Whoo! That was close!” They all looked at her in shock and disgust, but most importantly fear. She just smiled wider. This was how it was supposed to be, they feared her, not the other way around. She was a stronger hexenbiest than even those born as one, she had nothing to fear, not even from the Grimms. “Well, that was fun. But I’ve got some stuff I’m working on and need to get back to. But this was really informative. Because if you really did test your little concoction on Miss Adalind and she's useless, then I suppose you did me a great big favor. Thanks for doing the heavy lifting.” She turned and laughed as she walked out the door.

Sloane made a move to follow but shuddered, grabbing the shelf with a gasp. Nick jolted out of the paralyzing haze of shock, adrenaline winding down, and betrayal and turned. “Sloane?” He quickly went over, and she breathed deeply as if nauseous.

“I…I’m okay…just…feel a little dizzy…” She looked up, her eyes back to normal, but her nose was bleeding and she looked like her eyes were pinning and widening rapidly.

“Shit,” Nick said, quickly holstering his gun and bringing her over to a chair.

“Whoever that was, I am done trying to help it,” Monroe bit out, standing with Hank.

“I’m out too,” Hank agreed.

“Me too. That bitch could have killed Monroe!” Rosalee said, looking haggard. “And Sloane—oh god, Sloane,” she said, quickly going over to her.

“I’m okay,” she sighed again, though she looked pretty out of it. “Not sure what I did just now…”

“It was a lot like how you were before, when ordering animals, but you looked like when you were under Dierdre’s control,” Nick said slowly. “But also…like how I get. When I go pale.”

“Does yours also feel like you had an aneurysm?” she asked, her eyes calming down as she breathed deeply.

“Don’t joke,” Rosalee said, grabbing tissues to put on her nose. “Maybe you should lie down for a bit…”

Sloane looked like she’d argue but Nick set a hand on her shoulder. “Maybe you should...”

She sighed and stood, Rosalee helping steady her as she took her to the side room. Monroe looked at Nick. “What are we going to do now?”

“…I don’t know,” he sighed, looking at the potion on the ground. “But she’s out of control…I hoped…” he sighed, and Hank patted his shoulder sympathetically.

Rosalee meanwhile got Sloane to lay down and got her some water and aspirin. She took them and sighed. “I’m feeling better, really…”

“Good, but just rest for a bit…” She hesitated, looking at the main room, but then back to her. “…Juliette said…she called you Nick’s “new girl”?”

Sloane’s eyes snapped open and she looked at her. “…No idea what she’s talking about.”

“…Really?” she asked, uncertain.

“…It’s nothing that matters,” Sloane said.

“…I won’t press…but if you need to talk, I’m always here,” she said.

Sloane couldn’t help a small smile. “I know…but I really just want to forget. I mean really forget…” she muttered.

Rosalee was curious but just let her keep resting while the guys started cleaning.

Juliette meanwhile was smiling still. _Maybe that finally got through to them that I’m serious and they can’t just think I’m going to go along with whatever they want_.

\---------------

Renard looked deep into the mirror. Deep into his eyes. As if he could see someone else hiding there. “…If you’re in there, you bastard, I’m going to find a way to stop you.”

He tensed when he heard laughter and whipped around, but he was alone. He swallowed and turned back and gasped when he saw what looked like a face without skin staring at him with empty sockets. He screamed and fell backward, but when he blinked the face was gone.

“Let’s see you try, Seany. I’m with you, true till death,” his voice said. He clapped a hand over his mouth and groaned.

Glaring then, he stood and quickly grabbed his handcuffs from his bag. Climbing into bed, he handcuffed himself to the post, then threw his key far across the room. “Not tonight.”

“Maybe…but you can’t do this every night. Sweet dreams, Seany,” he laughed.

\---------------------------

“I found him handcuffed to the bed this morning,” Wu said, looking tired. “He yelled for me to get the key. Apparently he heard Jack last night and thought this might help. But he’s not sure if he can keep this up. And I’m not sure I can either.”

Nick and Hank looked at one another and sighed. “Thanks Wu…think you can do it again tonight?”

“Let me get a little shut eye and I’ll be able to. You guys should think about it too, I know last night was probably even harder on you,” he yawned. “Even the captain’s gonna try and take it easy today, but it’s your turn to keep your eyes on him. You guys sure he didn’t just…have a breakdown?” he asked delicately.

“It’s too much of a coincidence with what he’s been going through and those girls ending up dead…” Hank said. “Even if he’s not killing someone, something is really wrong with him. We gotta do something.”

Wu nodded, sighing. “I’ll go rest up for later then…” He walked off and Nick sat back, looking tired as well.

“…How you doing?”

“…Not great,” he sighed. “Just…I never thought Juliette would do what she did last night. I almost…”

“She made you almost. Look, man, whatever she’s going on…it’s on her. Adalind’s trying to do better, Henrietta’s helped us, Sean’s mother helped us…being a Hexenbiest isn’t an excuse. Maybe this freed something in Juliette she didn’t even know was there. Everyone has a dark side.”

Nick nodded and realized his idealized version of Juliette was fading. He’d been so sure—or maybe hopeful—that taking her powers would bring the old Juliette back. That maybe after some time, things might work out. But he had to face it, Juliette had changed. He had too over the last couple of years, since inheriting his Grimm abilities. He’d been so scared of dragging her down that dangerous path and before he knew it, she’d followed him and then taken a hard turn into even more dangerous territory. And was reveling in it. “I couldn’t save her…so hopefully we can save the captain.”

Later that afternoon, Rosalee was setting part of the Dead Faint to boiling in what looked like a mad scientist chemistry set. Adalind and Sloane were also there, and Sloane caught Adalind up on the events of the night before. “…I’m not that surprised to be honest,” Adalind sighed. “I sort of thought that might be how that went.”

“I’m sorry your hard work went to waste,” Rosalee said.

“Not completely.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a smaller jar. “I did save a little…just to be safe.”

“Smart,” Sloane nodded. “Do we want try and force her to take it?”

“If you know a way how, I’m all ears,” Adalind said. “Otherwise, I’d like to keep it for Diana.”

“Fair enough,” Monroe sighed. “Let’s focus on helping Renard for now I guess…”

“Trying to,” Rosalee nodded, continuing to tweak the beakers and flames and pipets.

Adalind came over to watch. “…You sure you’re not a hexenbiest…?” Rosalee arched her brow and Adalind held up a hand. “I just mean, you’re making this potion that makes someone appear dead, you regularly figure out cures for wesen poisons and ailments and even figured out how to cure my curses…I’m legitimately impressed. Most Hexe I know have a hard-enough time doing that with magic and that you do it without is kind of amazing.”

“…Thank you,” Rosalee said, honestly a little proud from the compliment.

“Yeah, she’s pretty awesome,” Monroe smiled dreamily.

“Saved our asses enough times, that’s for sure,” Sloane agreed.

“Okay, I love the compliments, but I am trying to concentrate. It’s going well I think, but it’s delicate work.”

“I hope it’s going well; I don’t really want to kill Sean…” Adalind said.

“None of us do, but if it’s him being possessed he can’t keep killing people. Who knows who he’ll go after next?” Monroe said. “Plus, the sun is setting now…”

“I was still too angry to work on it earlier after last night,” Rosalee sighed.

“Don’t blame you,” Sloane sighed.

The bell dinged and they looked up, except Rosalee who didn’t even flinch. Nick and Hank walked in and then to the side room. “Hey…how’s it going?”

“I’m almost done, but it’d go a lot faster if I could concentrate,” Rosalee said patiently.

Monroe nodded and then motioned for them all to go to the shop floor, locking the door again once there. “It’s going fine,” he said.

“That’s good. Wu’s gone to watch the captain again tonight,” Hank said. “I think we’d all like to get this over with.”

“Hopefully it goes better than last night from the sound of things…” Adalind said. Monroe shot her a look and she winced. “Sorry, I meant…”

“Yeah…no, I get it,” Nick said. “We’ll think of some other way to deal with Juliette…”

“And the royals she’s with,” Adalind reminded him.

He nodded, sighing again. They looked up when Rosalee came into the room, examining a pea green liquid in a volumetric glass. She swirled it a bit, nodding. “The Dead Faint is done. I think it'll work, but Sean can't know what he's taking. We have to assume whatever Sean knows, Jack knows.”

“Right, I mean, the dilemma here is, if that thing inside him knows he's not really dying, then he's probably not gonna cross back over,” Monroe sighed.

Nick nodded, thinking that over as well. “I think they both have to believe they're dying.”

“Oh, so traumatize him again, great…” Sloane muttered.

“Gotta do something…” Hank sighed.

“What if the captain thought he was taking something that would help him remember what he was doing during the blackouts, some kind of memory reboot?” Nick suggested.

Rosalee pursed her lips, combing through her inner files quickly. “There's something called Gedaechtnishilfe, which sort of does that…”

“Well, so we tell him that's what we're giving him,” Hank said.

She shook her head a little. “It's pretty tame stuff. It wouldn't kill him, and he might know that. I think we have to do something that makes it look like he's really dying. We have to convince Jack that this is the end and it's time to move out.” She wiped her hands as if pushing him away.

“Hit the road, Jack,” Monroe agreed, slapping the glove he used to handle hot bakers onto the table after shutting them down.

“Falling asleep might not be enough to do that,” she sighed.

“We're gonna have to put on a show.”

Nick was looking at the concoction thoughtfully. “We may just have to shoot him.”

Sloane looked up at him in surprise. “Uh…I know some people fantasize about killing their boss, but…”

Nick opened his mouth, but his phone rang, and he quickly set the beaker carefully down and pulled it out. “It’s Wu.” He answered and walked off a few feet to talk to him.

Sloane sighed a bit and noticed Monroe, Rosalee and even Adalind breaking down the science set. “Here, let me help too.” She carried a few things over to the sink to clean.

“Oh, you should probably wear some gloves,” Adalind said, handing her a pair. “This stuff might not like your skin, to say the least.”

“Thanks.” Sloane pulled one on, but then the other slipped down onto the floor. She didn’t think much of bending down to get it using the sink as a support, but when she tensed to push herself back up a sharp pain ran right down her sternum. She barked out a surprised yelp and went to her knees, clutching at her shirt.

“Sloane?!” Rosalee said, rushing over. Nick had come back in quickly as well and the others moved towards her.

“I…I’m okay,” she gasped out. “I guess I pulled at the cut a bit…”

Adalind was helping her up and over to a chair. “I healed the top layer first; your muscles are probably still damaged…”

“Good to know,” she grunted, rubbing lightly at the wound.

“I can call up some people from the physical therapy center—they can maybe recommend some exercises,” Hank said.

She sighed but nodded. “Thanks…I thought I’d at least be able to clean okay…”

“It’s okay,” Rosalee said, rubbing her back gently. “Take time to heal.”

She didn’t look happy but nodded again. She looked up at Nick as he calmed. “Wu had some news?”

He hesitated but nodded. “Yeah. The Captains’ back home, in his house. So far so good, but he hasn’t handcuffed himself to anything...”

“Well, it’d be the first time I’d be happy my hard work went to waste if he didn’t change…but I won’t hold my breath,” Rosalee sighed. She went to go finishing cleaning up with Adalind.

Sloane sighed again, rubbing idly over her chest. Nick sat down next to her, watching. “…you okay?”

“…yeah, fine. Really. Just don’t like being on the sidelines, you know?” Her phone started ringing and she pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the number. She didn’t recognize it and set it aside to ring out.

“I understand that, really…but even before you had to take time to recover from some things, right?”

“That was before I was in a city, with a job that brought me wesen cases every other day,” she pointed out with a smile. “I could take a break since I had to find the next hunt, it didn’t find me. Now trouble finds us.”

“Fair enough,” he said, smiling back. “But we want to keep you around.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” she said, but smiled as well.

“Y’know, I wonder if that Geda…whatever could help you remember your dream time,” Hank said.

Nick froze and looked at him. “I…why would she want to do that?”

“I don’t know, it’s supposed to be her “ideal world”? I’m curious what that was. Are you?” he asked Sloane.

“…Not really. Ideal means it’s not real, right? I mean, I don’t want to be disappointed. I like the life I have.” Her eyes darted to Nick for a brief moment and he felt his heart ratchet up a bit. Did she remember? Or was that because she knew what she’d want?

“Heh, I guess that’s a good point. Guess I was just curious if it was like my ideal world,” he smiled.

“And that would be…?”

“Beaches and babes,” he smiled.

She snorted and laughed and both of them smiled. Sloane’s phone rang again, and she looked at it to see the same number. She very nearly ignored it again but then paused, looking at it more closely. She quickly accepted the call and held it to her ear as she stood and went to the other room. Nick and Hank looked at one another but stayed put. “Hello?”

“Sloane? It’s me,” a familiar voice said.

“Kelly? What’s going on, it’s not the normal check in time…”

“I’m almost into Portland and I realized I should call you, get the full story if you’re able.”

“…Full story of what?” she asked, frowning. “Why are you coming to Portland?”

“To help Nick.”

“…With what?” she asked, unsure when he asked her for help or how.

“He’s in danger, isn’t he?” she asked, now confused as well.

She blinked and looked around the corner where Nick was sitting. He looked back, quirking his brow. “Uh…no more than usual? I mean, a lot’s been going on.”

“Juliette emailed me saying he was in mortal danger!” she said.

Sloane went still. “…She did?”

“Yes! Now is he or not?”

“…” Sloane held the phone away, her mind whirring quickly. She could hear Kelly call her name and looked at him again before waving him over. He rose and strode to her and she handed the phone to him. “Nick, say hi to your mother, she’s freaking out.”

“I am not-Nick?” she asked, now confused as well.

“Mom?” Nick said, taking the phone. “What’s going on?”

“You’re okay?” she asked. She was trying to keep her composure but there was a tinge of urgency in her voice.

“Yeah. I mean, there’s been a lot going on lately…Sloane’s mother came and caused trouble again.”

She sighed, sounding relieved. “Well…Diedre does that. So, you’re already okay?”

“Already?”

“Juliette emailed me two nights ago you were in trouble and could possibly be killed. I’ve been driving since then to get to Portland. I figured Sloane was the best to call—she hadn’t mentioned her, but I hoped she was alright too.”

Nick looked at Sloane, shocked, but she was nodding slowly. “…I’m not in danger. Not right now anyway.”

“Then why did she tell me that?” He was quiet and Kelly’s tone turned a little more worried. “Nick?”

“…How much did Sloane tell you about the last few months?”

“…She mentioned there was an incident that you lost your powers for a time. That’s what stood out to me the most. But it was reversed.”

He looked at her and she shrugged. “I wasn’t sure how much you would want me to tell her,” she said quietly.

Nick sighed, a little relieved and a little anxious. “Yeah, that’s the basics…but in reversing it…Because a hexenbiest did it to me posing as Juliette, Juliette had to be the one to undo it. And it…turned her into a Hexenbiest.” It was quiet again for a while. “Mom?”

“I…I pulled over. She’s a hexenbiest you said?”

“Yeah…”

“…I would ask if your joking, but I know you wouldn’t joke about that,” she said, somber. “I’m so sorry, Nicky…”

Nick took a breath and nodded. “Yeah…Well, I didn’t take finding out well. But she hasn’t taken any of it well.”

“Put it on speaker,” Sloane said. Nick hesitated but did so. “You’re on speaker, Kelly. We’re at the spice shop but it’s just me and Nick in the room. Juliette asked you two nights ago to come?”

“Yes… She said to come because Nick needed me, and that the house was safe. The emails will have been deleted by now though.”

“That’s not my concern. My concern is _why_ she would do that.”

“Yes, why would she?” Kelly asked, picking up on Sloane’s tone.

“Adalind…is here,” Nick said slowly.

“You said you weren’t in danger,” she accused.

“We aren’t. She’s…we have a truce,” Nick said. “She’s in the other room. Yesterday, she helped us try to find a way to suppress Juliette’s powers. Juliette refused and destroyed it, but she tried. She already helped save Sloane’s life. Even healed her a little from a bad wound.”

“…I’ll want more details on that later, but alright…”

“She said that the Royals were in contact with her. With Juliette, I mean,” Sloane said. “There’s a Prince here in Portland, Kenneth. He wants to use Juliette to find you, and by extension Diana.”

“…You think Juliette tried to lure me there?” she asked, putting things together.

“I don’t want to believe it, that she’d go that far, but there’s no reason for her to contact you and lie to you otherwise, and no way the royals would be able to figure out how to pose as her on that email platform given the security measures you take…” She looked at Nick hesitantly.

“…She’s been acting out a lot. Last night…she almost made me shoot Monroe with her powers,” he said.

“What? I…Alright. So, Juliette is now on the Royals’ side,” she said, trying to come to grips with that quickly. “And they want me in Portland to take Diana.”

“…It makes the most sense,” He sighed, rubbing over his eyes. “Which means—”

“They can’t come here.” Both of them jumped and looked up to see Adalind in the archway. She sighed and walked over. “Kelly?”

“…Adalind.”

“Yes…Look, I…am still angry. For all of this,” she said honestly, breathing deep.

“…I know. I knew you would be, and I don’t blame you. I’d have probably done worse to get Nick back in your shoes.” Nick looked a little unsure about what she meant but didn’t say anything.

Adalind nodded, pursing her lips as well. “I believe that…But…As much as I want to see Diana…she can’t be here,” she choked out. “The royals absolutely cannot get to her.”

It was quiet for a moment, the others now peeking around the corner. “I agree.” Kelly finally said. “But I don’t think I can keep moving with her, to be honest. She’ll be a year old soon…”

“Trust me, I realize that too,” she said, voice cracking.

“But that means she’s a bit more prone to wanting to not be in the car for hours at a time. I just entered the Portland city limits a little while ago. I was going to find a place to feed Diana before heading to your house, where she said it’s safe.”

“Then it isn’t,” Sloane said.

“I’ve been driving all day. I’m not sure how much more Diana can take…” Kelly sighed.

“…I’ll text you an address. Wait for us there.”

“Alright—”

“Let me come too! Please. If she’s already here,” Adalind said, looking at her.

“Adalind…”

“My powers are gone. I’m not a threat. Please, I just want to see my daughter,” she asked desperately.

“Her powers are gone?”

“She tested that suppressant for us,” Nick said. “She’s serious about turning over a new leaf.”

“You believe her?” Kelly asked, uncertain.

Nick looked at Adalind, who looked back at him with pleading, desperate eyes, close to tears. “…I do,” he sighed. She looked close to hugging him and he held up a hand. “It’s not forgiveness…but I at least believe she’s trying very hard to do better.”

“…Alright,” Kelly sighed. “Text me that address, I’ll meet you there.”

“Right. Stay safe.” Sloane hanged up and immediately began texting. “I’m sending her to my house.”

“Is that safe?” Nick asked.

“Safer than yours,” she said.

“I’ll go with you—”

“Not yet,” she said, looking at him. “Take care of Renard first. I’m not up to snuff yet to help with that and we can’t let Jack keep doing what he pleases. I’ll meet Kelly.”

“And me,” Adalind said.

“And you,” Sloane agreed, finishing the text.

Nick looked hesitant but finally sighed. “Alright. Keep me posted.”

“I will, don’t worry.”

He nodded and looked up at the others poking their heads around the entryway. “…You guys got all of that?”

“The gist of it, yes,” Monroe nodded, only slightly abashed to be caught. “Juliette really tried to lure your mom into a trap?”

Nick was hesitant to admit that, but Sloane nodded. “Sounds like it. So, she’s willing to kill now to help her new friends.”

“We don’t know if they’d kill her,” Nick said.

“Nick, she tried to make you shoot me last night!”

“And me,” Sloane added, and he nodded and gestured at her.

“Plus, it’s the royals! The Verrat! They weren’t going to let your mom just leave peacefully,” Monroe said.

“…They might’ve told her they wouldn’t hurt her,” he said quietly.

“…Nick, I get you don’t want to admit this,” Sloane said as gently as she could. “But Juliette isn’t some naïve doll. She’d have figured that out too.”

Nick sighed, pulling at his face as he tried to both think and not think. “Let’s…deal with Jack for now. Whatever Juliette is doing we can figure out later.”

Sloane nodded and she and Adalind headed out to her car while Nick and Hank headed to the other just as night began to fall.

\---------------------

Renard was looking for his handcuffs again. “Where are they? Where are they?” He froze when he felt a tightness in his chest. He looked over, seeing the floor mirror in his room. “…You moved them?”

“Aye, I did.”

“Stop this…you’re not real!” he shouted, going to the mirror.

“I’m as real as you, gov’nor,” he laughed.

“No, it's not right. I would have remembered something! The place... if it was cold, if it was raining,” he said, holding his head.

“Their screams... you never forget something like that,” the voice said, echoing through his mind.

“Oh, God, no. Oh, no. No, no, no. No!” he yelled, pulling at his hair. He gasped as he felt the searing pain his chest and looked down to see his old wounds bleeding again. The world was growing hazy. “Stop, stop. Stop! Stop!”

Wu was waiting the car, yawning a little. It’d been a long night before and probably would be a long night now. He was sipping coffee when he heard yelling and looked up to see the captain rushing out the door. His shirt was open and there was blood all over his chest. The sight had Wu quickly putting his coffee down and rushing out. “Captain? Captain, what is it?!” He's inside!

“He's inside!” Sean shouted.

Wu drew his gun, heading towards the door. “Inside where?”

“Inside 'ere.”

He froze at the change in accent and felt his blood run cold. He turned his head just in time to see the fist coming for him and he went down from the blow. It was strong enough he could feel the world dimming. Just before he blacked out, he could hear the voice again as the captain loomed over him. “Now... what say you and I have a bloody good time?”

\-------------------------------

Getting to Sloane’s house felt long but was actually fairly quick for the two of them. But then that left them waiting for Kelly, and Adalind began pacing.

“You’re going to wear a hole in my floor,” Sloane said.

“Sorry, I just…shouldn’t they be here by now?”

“We just got here ten minutes ago, relax—”

“I can’t relax! This is the first time I’ll see my daughter in almost a year! What if…what if she doesn’t remember me? Or like me? What if she hates me now?”

“She’s like a year old, do babies really have a firm grasp on that stuff?” she asked, unsure.

“The first year is an incredibly important time for babies! She…probably calls Kelly mom…or thinks of her as mom…” there was a hint of jealousy in her voice.

Sloane eyed her and sighed, standing to go over. “Okay…I have no experience with this. But all I can say is I was raised by my grandmother because my mother is a psychotic bitch.” Adalind arched her brow but Sloane shrugged. “It’s true, I realize it now. But I’ve come to realize that’s fine if she is. Your mother isn’t a defining factor in your life.”

“Not feeling reassured…”

“But, your feelings are,” she went on. “You love your daughter. My grandmother and aunts love me. Kelly I’m sure has done the best she can, but that doesn’t mean she’s the only person in her life that can be like a mother to her. Just show her that. One day she’ll be able to understand if she doesn’t now and you can talk all this out and have a big _Lifetime_ movie moment over it. But right now, just show her you missed her and take everything else one step at a time.”

“…Okay…Okay, that actually does help,” she sighed. “Thanks…” There was a knock at the door and she almost jumped out of her skin. But Sloane just patted her shoulder and walked over and opened the door.

“Sloane…this is your house?” Kelly asked, looking at it in a mix of admiration and surprise.

“Yep. Come on in.” She backed away, gesturing for Kelly to come inside. In her arms was a beautiful one-year-old girl. She had soft, downy hair the color of honey and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a pink dress, purple leggings, and a lightweight white jacket. In her hands was a small stuffed dog. Sloane was reminded of those Precious Moments figurines she’d seen in the store growing up, with big doe eyes and innocent features. Adorable and creepy to be honest. Diana looked at her warily and she tried to smile. “Um…so…” She stepped aside and Adalind was there.

Kelly looked hesitant but nodded to her. “Adalind…”

“…Kelly,” she said, equally hesitant. Her eyes were on Diana, who was looking at her curiously. “H…hey Diana…It’s me, mommy…”

She blinked, looked at Kelly, then back at her. Kelly was nodding, walking slowly over. “Yes, that’s your mommy honey.”

“…Ma?” She looked at Kelly again and Adalind’s heart sank.

“No…no, I’m not your mother,” she said quietly. She walked over. “This is your mother…she missed you a lot. Did some not nice things to get to you,” she added, eying Adalind. Adalind flushed and looked down. “…But she’s making up for it.” She looked up again, hopeful. “Why don’t you two sit on the couch and get reacquainted while I warm her food up.”

“O-Okay…” She reached up, hoping that Diana would let her hold her. The young girl was hesitant, but Kelly moved her to the other woman’s arms. Adalind took a deep breath and felt the tears began to roll down her cheeks. “Diana…I missed you so much…” she said quietly. Diana looked at her with those eerily intelligent eyes again, then reached up and wiped at her cheeks with the stuff dog in her hand. Adalind laughed a little, sniffling. “Thank you…” She said it and then looked at Kelly. “Thank you…”

Kelly smiled and walked to the kitchen while Adalind sat down on the couch and sat her daughter on her lap. She was looking her over, touching her hair, smiling lovingly and happily. The sight was actually a little hard for Sloane to watch and she turned away and headed to the kitchen.

“So,” Kelly said, opening the packet of food. “Do I get the full story now?”

“…It’s kind of long…”

“Try me,” she said.

“…You know what, why don’t you tell her, Adalind?” she said, looking to the living room.

“Me?” she asked, looking up in surprise.

“Yeah. I want to go…take care of something.”

“What kind of something?” Kelly asked, suspicious.

“Just…want to go check Nick’s house.”

“Sloane, if they were planning to attack me, there’s probably way too many Verrat swarming that place,” Kelly said.

“I’m not planning to fight; I just want to see for myself what they’re doing…confirm if Juliette really helped them. For Nick.” _And for me. I don’t want to believe she would, but if I see it…maybe I can start thinking on how to deal with her better._

Kelly hesitated and then looked at Adalind. She was hesitant too but nodded slowly. “Okay…just be careful.”

“Always am. You two catch up and figure out some stuff,” she said, heading for the door.

\-----------------------

The fog worked well. All she had to do was set the small bowl near the door and using her magic, she made it go under the door and into the house, and around to the residents. They could see, using night vision and binoculars, the residents breathe it in. Those that were awake, watching late night television and the like, near instantly fell asleep. One man drove up on his motorcycle however and called out to them. Juliette recognized him; it was Tim Margulis. He’d helped them with yardwork in the past. Yet she didn’t feel much when one of the Hundjagers tackled him into the garage, sinking his teeth into his throat as they closed the door to use as a vantage point.

“Was that really necessary?” she asked.

“No witnesses,” Kenneth smiled. “Even with your spell, I’m not keen on dealing with anyone. You honestly saved everyone else from dying because I was perfectly fine sending them in to tear their throats out. Does that bother you?”

“Not really, but this is less to explain. One-man dead isn’t going to stand out as much as a bunch of people all in the same neighborhood,” she said, heading for the front door.

“I’m glad we’re on the same page. Plus, it was a nice test of how useful you’ll be in the future,” he smiled, following her. She quirked a brow but unlocked the door and headed inside. She looked around, cataloging everything. “Home sweet home,” Kenneth said lightly.

“He took down all our pictures,” Juliette said, noting the absences on the walls and tables.

“Painful memories,” Kenneth said. She frowned slightly as she remembered the good times they’d had in the past—flowers, kisses, cuddles, just sitting and talking…She sighed, and he quirked his heads. “Not having second thoughts, are you?”

She roused herself and shook her head. “Of course not.”

“Good…how many ways are there in and out of here?”

“Front door, side door, back door…back door’s in the kitchen,” she said.

“And this is the computer you used to email his mother?” he asked, looking at the mac desktop on the desk near one of the windows.

“Yes…”

He nodded, looking around. “Weston Steward was killed here…Sean was shot here…how many times were you attacked here?” She eyed him, and he smiled. “I’m just reminding you part of why we’re doing this. You’re never going to be a target or a victim again. I’m going to give you that freedom.”

She remembered the instances and nodded a little. “Right. I remember, don’t worry.”

He nodded and glanced at the stairs. “And what’s upstairs?”

“Two bedrooms, two baths,” she said.

He smiled. “Well, let’s see how the Grimm lives.” He headed to the stairs and Juliette followed.

She showed him the guest room and bath, then opened the door to the master. “And this…was our bedroom.” She looked at the blue dresser across from the bed, running her hand over it. Nick’s guitar was in the corner—he hadn’t played in months. Too much going on. The other dresser was near the bathroom, and their bed was made. It all looked innocent, and she remembered how much effort she put into decorating.

Kenneth smiled and ran a hand over the bedspread. “And this would be where Adalind took Nick’s powers, hm?” Juliette frowned and he shrugged. “I mean, it must be. Then where you got them back for him. I wonder though if anyone else has been on it…Miss Larson never came up here, did she?”

“You know I’m helping you, you can stop with the manipulation tactics,” Juliette said, losing patience.

He smiled. “Forgive me. I’m used to playing mind games with everyone, including my allies.”

“Sounds like it would get annoying kind of fast…And a good way to lose your allies.”

“Perhaps, but it’s so much fun finding their breaking point. It’s like a puzzle. Everyone assumes I’m a meathead who likes to go charging in, but there’s an art to getting into people’s heads. And all royals are taught it. Just in case we get to be the chosen one.” He sardonically held up his hands as if receiving a blessing from above. The huffed a laugh and dropped them. “But do forgive the teasing. I’ll stop. I don’t want to make you angry; I know that.

“Good,” she said, eying him.

“So, anything else I should know?”

“Yes.” She walked up and set her hands on his chest. He allowed it, eying her with an idea of what she might be doing. “If I’m going to be working for the royal family…” She pushed and he sat on the bed willingly. “…You need to have a very clear understanding…” She pushed on his chest again, making him lay down while she crawled on top of him. He smiled a little, maybe enjoying her being forceful. “…Of just how valuable I can be.” She leaned down to kiss him, and Kenneth kissed back eagerly, rolling them so he could up the passion.

Sloane, meanwhile, was watching much of what was happening from the roof of the house next door. She frowned as she watched the men in suits filing into the house. She took video on her cellphone since Juliette had gotten out of the car to fog the other houses. The attack on the neighbor happened too fast for her to stop it and she cursed under her breath with a silent apology to the man. When Juliette and Kenneth walked into the house with more of the men, she stopped recording and climbed back down using the drainpipe. Her chest was twinging but she breathed through the pain—until she was about halfway down, and the pain strummed all the way to her shoulders and her fingers slipped. She landed on her back, hissing and clutching at her chest.

“What was that?” she heard a gruff voice asked.

“Possum?” another answered.

“Hmmm…I could use a snack.”

“Ugh, your taste in food is disgusting as ever…”

He just laughed and she heard his footsteps coming towards the back gate. Sloane swung to her feet and made her way quickly and quietly around the other side and over the fence there, rolling with the tightness of her chest again at pushing herself over. She pushed herself up and crawled to the corner of the fence, breathing slow and steady to get control of her body again. She waited for a while as she heard the man shuffling around and sniffing. Peeking through a knot hole, she saw he woged into an Abartige Aasfresser—a Hyena wesen she knew well for their delight in picking off the helpless. _Bone crushing jaws and teeth. Relies on sense of smell because they aren’t the best with their eyes…_

She heard him get to the fence, sniffing along it curiously. Reaching into her jacket, Sloane pulled out a small spray canister and sprayed it discreetly near her side before he got there. The combination of extracts and herbs would hide her scent for a short while—a trick she’d learned long ago similar to how her Grandmother had saved her by placing her in the herb cupboard before. The sniffing was getting closer and she held her breath.

“Hey, what are you doing?” the first voice called.

“Hmmm…I can’t find anything,” he grunted.

“Then leave it and get over here! We’re supposed to be keeping a look out from the house and we got the door open.”

“Fine…” he said, woging back and headed back for the front. Sloane breathed out slowly and rose. But she ducked back down when another man in a suit passed by _. Shit…gonna have to wait a bit before I make a break for it._

She waited fifteen minutes before she heard a little bit of a commotion. She pulled her hood up to hide her hair and looked over the edge. Kenneth came out, looking more rumpled than before and adjusting his clothes. Sloane arched her brow, but he was heading for the house across the street with the guys in suits. She waited another handful of minutes after they went inside before deciding it was time. She was about to try and hop the fence when she paused and sighed, knowing she’d have to pull too much at her chest to get over it unless she got a running start. And that could draw too much attention. So, she had to hope this gate was well oiled. The creaking seemed loud as she pushed it open, but no one came rushing out, so she breathed and quickly made her way to the front and the side in the shadows. She eyed Nick’s house and considered going in to confront Juliette. But in her condition she wasn’t sure how many she could fight off alone. So, she started heading up the street by keeping to the shadows.

She paused on the way however when she saw another figure coming up the street. She quickly hid against the side of a house while she watched them make their way to Nick’s house. _It can’t be Kelly…_ She watched them go up to look into Nick’s windows. They were about to knock on the door when they paused and instead turned to head down and back up the street. One of the men in suits came out to follow them and Sloane moved around the side of the house to follow them both down the street and around the corner a couple of blocks away. She got around the side around the same time as the man in the suit and saw his confusion when the hooded figure was gone. But she already knew where the figure was—they jumped near silently down from a tree and with one swing took the man’s head off with a machete.

Sloane equally soundlessly came up behind them as they were pushing the dead man’s hand open to see the Verrat tattoo. “I hope you aren’t planning to just leave him in the street…” They swung around but Sloane blocked the hand. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was though. “Trubel…?”

“Sloane!” She turned and they both smiled, hugging each other.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were still in Philadelphia?”

“No, I…Monroe and Rosalee called me. I was traveling,” she said, a little hesitant.

Sloane pulled back and looked at her. “Traveling?”

“Yeah…A little hunting, on and off. but I’m being safe. And I’m not just killing everything! …Well…” she looked at the Verrat on the ground.

“I’ll give you a pass for him. Verrat need to be weeded out,” she sighed.

“Yeah, I agree there…”

She looked at her, arching her brow. “I…don’t remember going over them a lot with you.”

“…I’ve got a lot I need to talk to you and Nick about. I came to find him—why are there Verrat agents everywhere?”

Sloane sighed, glancing back behind them before grabbing the man’s ankles. “Help me move this guy out of the way and then we’ll go meet with Nick. There’s a lot we need to go over between all of us.”

\-----------

When they got to Renard’s house, Wu’s car was gone, and so was Wu. But Wu’s gun was left behind in the grass. Nick tried to call Wu’s phone, but he didn’t pick up. Nick quickly called in for a trace on the car as they broke into Renard’s house. No one was home, so Renard was also gone, but on the mirror in the bathroom upstairs was a message. _Welcome Back Jack_ was written in blood across the glass, giving them all chills.

They got word back Wu’s car was tracked to downtown, back to the area a lot of prostitutes frequented. Despite recommendations to stay inside, he knew some would still be out to make money. They found Wu’s car and found Wu inside, tied up but trying break out by smashing his feet against the back window.

“Wu!” Nick yelled, running up to him.

“Where's the captain?” Hank asked, opening the door.

Wu scrambled out with his hands still cuffed behind him, talking fast as Hank helped unlock them. “He's got another woman! He's got another woman! He's down the street!” He grabbed his gun when Nick offered it to him and started running across the street. “This guy is crazy! He's not the captain! You're right; he's possessed! He's gonna kill her!”

They came around the corner to an empty street. Wu cursed, looking around for any sign they were in the area with Hank. Nick took a breath though and closed his eyes, concentrating. Dimly he heard a voice speaking with a British accent, “I love your hair…It smells so good.”

“Kissing's extra, honey,” a female voice answered.

Nick honed in on the sound and looked to an alcove just up the street. Nodding to the other two, he quickly but quietly ran towards it.

“No, darling,” Jack said, wearing Renard’s face with a cloth cap on top. He reached to his back, pulling a scalpel from a hidden pocket on his belt. “There won't be any kissing.” He raised it, and Nick lunged the last few feet to grab his arm and pull him back.

“What's going on? I wasn't doing anything!” the woman said—long blonde hair, short, short mini-dress and high, high heels. She had no idea what was just about to happen to her.

“Get out of here!” Hank yelled. She skittered away while Nick pushed the man down onto the sidewalk and wrangled his arms around behind him to cuff him.

“What's going on? What are you doing? Ah!” Renard said, feeling the cuffs go on. “Nick? How'd I get here? What happened?”

“We’ll explain on the way,” Nick sighed, taking him to the car. He wasn’t convinced it was Renard, but he played along quickly. Despite saying he’d explain, the drive back to the spice shop was too quick to do it well and they pulled him out and to the door. Monroe was waiting for them, opening the door for them to pull him in.

“You got it?” Nick asked.

“We're ready,” he nodded, Rosalee coming in with the glass full of green potion.

Renard eyed them all, still looking panicky. “What are you giving me?”

“You said you can't remember what happened. This is gonna help you remember what happened,” Rosalee said. Nick and Hank pulled him into the other room to sit him down.

“I took it once. I just went to sleep, woke up feeling fine, remembered everything,” Monroe said, smiling as convincingly as he could. It wasn’t a lie after all.

He looked at the glass, then down, swallowing dryly as he considered that. “What if I remember killing those women?” he finally asked.

Monroe looked at them uncertainly, but Hank nodded. “We know it wasn't you. Just like you said to Nick before.”

“But we have to know what we're dealing with. Any clues you can give us to what he is and how to deal with him could be a huge help,” Nick said.

Renard sighed deeply but nodded. “Okay…” Nick came around him to unlock the cuffs—they couldn’t leave them on because depending on how long he was out it could cut off circulation, or cause damage.

Wu pulled out his gun and Renard looked to him. “This is just in case, sir,” he said.

He nodded, understanding. Rosalee handed the glass to Monroe, who passed it to Renard with an encouraging smile. Renard took it, eyeing it with a mix of dread and nausea. “Maybe it's best I do remember…” He tipped the glass back, swallowing it all down. He smacked his lips when he was done, unsure about the taste, but sighing. “So, what now?”

“We wait,” Rosalee said, trying to smile chipperly. “You might want to lie down…”

He glanced at the day bed they sat him on and sighed, turning to lay down across the quilts laid out on top. A few minutes passed in tense silence before Renard’s eyes started to flutter. “I'm getting sleepy…Is that supposed to happen? Uh, I'm not remembering anything.”

“If you feel like you're going to fall asleep, that's fine. Just means it's working,” Rosalee said gently.

“Yeah, I'm just so tired…” he sighed. He closed his eyes, his breathing slowing till they couldn’t tell if his chest was rising and falling.

“It's working,” Monroe whispered.

Rosalee nodded, walking softly up to him. “Yeah. Let me check his pulse.” She reached up and pressed her fingers to his neck. “His pulse is slowing down…We'll only have a few seconds. Getting slower. Slower…Almost…”

She wasn’t prepared for the sudden hand around her throat as Renard’s eyes snapped open. She choked and grabbed it, trying to keep from closing completely around her windpipe. The others moved to help but a harsh, distinctly British voice barked at them. “One step closer, and I'll snap her pretty neck!” Nick pulled Monroe back and the three police drew their guns as he stood up, holding Rosalee close as a shield as he glared at them. “Trying to kill me. Is that it?”

“Nick, shoot him!” Monroe said, panicking at the look of fear and pain on his wife’s face as he dragged her back towards the shop.

“It's still the captain!” Nick said.

“Shoot him!”

“We've got to do it, Nick! We've got to take him down!” Hank shouted, trying to target Renard over Rosalee’s head.

“We don't have a choice, Nick!” Wu said.

“You shoot me, we both die,” Jack growled, nestling into Rosalee’s hair. “Don't want that, now, do we?”

“You got to kill him, Nick, now!” Monroe shouted desperately.

“He's the captain!”

“He's strangling her!”

“I could hit Rosalee!”

“Tell me what you gave to him!” Jack roared. He didn’t have his mind on Rosalee though, so she woged and then sank her teeth into his arm. He screamed, letting go on reflex and she rushed around him. Nick, Hank and Wu opened fire and he screamed again as he was forced back. He crashed into a shelf, sending a jar shattering to the ground, and then collapsed.

There was no blood though. Just dozens of rubber capsules scattered around after bouncing off of his body. Painful on their own, but none of them penetrated.

“Oh, my God. Are you okay?” Monroe gasped, rushing over to Rosalee. She was panting, rubbing over her neck, but nodded.

“I hope Jack bought it,” Hank said.

Wu nodded, ejecting his cartridge and putting the safety on. “He may not be dead, but he's not gonna be feeling so good after that many rubber bullets.”

“Shh!” Rosalee hissed. They were all watching him, waiting for a sign.

“How much longer do we have to wait?” Nick asked.

“Not very,” Rosalee said.

“Will you just make sure he's dead or not?” Monroe said testily.

Nick knelt down and pressed his fingers to Renard’s neck while Wu reloaded with a real bullet clip and aimed it at Renard. “I'm not getting a pulse…” As he said the words, a small puff of black smoke exited Renard’s mouth and they all backed up slightly.

“Whoa. Was that it?” Wu asked.

Rosalee moved towards him but Monroe halted her. “No, wait…”

“What if Jack's not gone?” Hank asked, voicing everyone’s concern.

“Then shoot him for real,” Rosalee said, looking angry and put out.

“Ready,” Wu said, clicking the safety back off.

Rosalee knelt, taking a syringe Monroe grabbed from its hiding place in the other room. She uncapped it and glared down at him. “If you’re still in there, I hope this hurts.” She jabbed it into his neck and pressed down on the plunger. Hank, Nick and Wu all prepared their guns just in case.

And nothing happened.

“Uh…He's not coming back,” Monroe said, worry in his voice.

They all gasped as the door opened. They relaxed when it was Sloane, striding in quickly. “Nick, there’s a problem-whoa!” She froze, looking at Renard prone on the floor. “…Oh shit, you killed him? You killed him for real?” she asked, shocked and looking dismayed that it didn’t work.

“No!” Nick said. “I mean…”

“He might be faking, because Jack woke up and tried to strangle Rosalee a second ago!” Monroe said. Sloane looked to her quickly and she nodded, rubbing her throat.

“Then we shot him,” Wu said, motioning to the rubber bullets.

“…Shoot him again.”

“Sloane, he’s down.”

“We gave him the reversal, he’s just…” Rosalee looked down worriedly.

“He might need CPR,” Hank said.

They all looked unsure at that, since that meant they’d have to get close to him again. Just as they were debating how to do it, Renard gasped and made them all jump. He coughed, then groaned, looking pained.

“Captain?” Nick asked cautiously.

“Yeah?” he groaned weakly.

“It's really you?” Monroe asked, still keeping Rosalee behind him.

“What happened? I feel like I got hit by a truck…” he wheezed. They all looked at one another again before nodding and holstering their weapons. Nick helped him up and he grunted as he stood, leaning against the shelf for support. “Oh God…” he groaned, gingerly touching his chest.

“What do you remember?” Rosalee asked.

He smacked his lips a bit, frowning as he thought. “I remember...I remember coming here, and... you gave me something.”

She nodded. “Yeah, to help you remember.”

“I... I don't think it worked,” he said, looking disappointed. Then he shouted, doubling over. “Oh, my God, no, I can't be bleeding again!” He tore his shirt open, expecting to see blood dripping from the closed bullet wounds. Instead they watched as the small circular scars seemed to swirl and then fade into his skin, as if nothing had ever happened. They all stared in shock and then up to Renard who was equally confused. He looked at Rosalee with a bit of awe. “What'd you do to me?”

She smiled, looking relieved. “I think we cured you.”

“Jack's gone,” Nick said, smiling as well.

Renard sighed, looking close to crying in relief. “Thank you…”

They smiled, then jumped when someone was rapidly knocking on the door.

“What now?” Monroe asked. He moved to go to the door, but Sloane beat him to it, opening it.

“Did you run into any trouble on your route?” she said.

“No, you?”

“No. They don’t seem to be watching the shop. Come in, I haven’t gone over anything yet.”

“What? Isn’t time kind of crucial?”

“They were performing an exorcism. Captain Renard was possessed by Jack the Ripper.”

“…You’re making me wish I’d stuck around,” Trubel said as she walked in.

“Oh my God,” Monroe gasped. “You made it!”

“Trubel?” Nick said, smiling a little more as he went over to her. “You’re here?” He gave her a hug and she smiled a bit and hugged him back.

“Yeah, I’m here…But we have a problem. Your house is swarming with Verrat!”

Nick paused and pulled back. “What?”

“It’s true,” Sloane sighed, pulling out her phone. “I went to check it out…because I knew if Juliette was trying to get Kelly to go to your house there was a reason. And it probably had to do with the royals. There were maybe thirty men there—enough that would even overwhelm her.”

“I…but…” Nick said.

She pulled up the video and showed him. “She did something to your neighbors…and stood by while they killed one of them. It happened to fast for me to stop…”

“…Tim…” Nick muttered, watching them tackle him and tear into his throat like animals. Juliette was outside in frame and really didn’t say or do anything to stop them, just walked into the house with the other man.

Renard walked over, still stiff and sore, to look at the next video she played, of the man leaving the house. “…Pause it.” She did and Renard zoomed in. “…That’s Prince Kenneth. The one that came here to get Diana and wanted Juliette’s help.”

“Juliette’s helping the royals?” Trubel asked, looking at all of them in confusion.

“There’s a lot you missed,” Sloane sighed. She looked at them. “Trubel came to talk to you and nearly walked into the house. It’s probably lucky she realized something was wrong and left.”

“But they had a hundjager follow me. I ended up killing him,” she said.

“That’s when we met up and we hid the body. Then we took different routes here just in case we were still being followed.”

“Slow down!” Nick said. “I just…she really set a trap for my mother? With the royals? They would’ve…”

Sloane looked at him sympathetically and set a hand on his shoulder. “Go sit…I’ll bring Trubel up to speed and we’ll talk more in a second.”

He hesitated but nodded, walking to the other room.

“…I’m going to call Adalind at your house and let her know what happened,” Rosalee sighed, heading to the other room as well.

“Adalind? At your house?” Trubel said, on alert.

“It’s part of that long story…” Sloane sighed.

\--------------------

It was past midnight when Kenneth called Juliette. “Where is she?”

“I…don’t know,” she admitted, looking out the window of the bedroom to the street below. She’d been looking at a few old photos of her and Nick, finding them in the closet. But there was no sign of Kelly.

“You said she was coming.”

“And last I heard she was,” she said, growing impatient at his impatient tone.

“Then find out why she isn’t here.” He hanged up and she glared a little but sighed and headed down to the computer. The men who were waiting looked up at her curiously but didn’t open their mouths when they saw the expression on her face.

She logged in and typed in a message to Kelly—but got an alert almost immediately she had been blocked by that address. “What?” She tried again and got the same message. “Shit!” She pounded her hand on the desk before sighing and grabbing her phone again, dialing Kenneth.

“Well?”

“She’s blocked me.”

“What?”

“She’s blocked my email. She must’ve found out you’re here.”

“How?” he growled.

“I don’t know! I…Sloane,” she muttered.

“What?”

“Kelly contacts Sloane more regularly. I’m the second on the contact list.”

“Well…you neglected to mention that,” he said snidely.

“Because I didn’t think she’d take the time to contact her if I was asking for help and saying Nick was in danger! I should’ve said she was dead…” she added bitterly.

“I guess you overestimated your importance. Maybe I did as well.”

Juliette dug her fingers into the desk, her hand woging enough to leave deep scratch marks. The men all looked at one another, backing away slightly. “Maybe I overestimated you if one setback makes you this irritable,” she said, her voice cool despite her anger.

“And what do you recommend?”

“Well, if she called Sloane or vice versa, Sloane would be the last person she talked to. So, she might know where she is. Or better yet, might’ve offered her a safe place to stay.”

“…A valid point. Lighton! Go check Sloane Larson’s residence.”

“Yessir!” the detective said, quickly getting up to go to his car.

“You don’t want to just go right now?” Juliette asked.

“I’d like to make sure before we go bungling into another neighborhood. This time I’m not taking time to worry about the neighbors.”

“Well, they’re probably all grouped together now,” she sighed. “And again, the more bodies we leave behind, the more problems we’re going to have.”

“You sure you’re not just feeling a bit hesitant to get rid of your old chums?” he said.

“You should keep in mind I’m not sworn to follow you. If I wanted to do this on my own, I could, and see what your Uncle thinks of that when you tell him someone else got Adalind’s brat.”

She was a bit surprised when Kenneth chuckled. “Well…I have to admit you do challenge me. Meet me outside.”

“We’re just leaving? Now?”

“There’s no point in hanging around if Kelly isn’t coming. I doubt Nick will be coming either if you were hoping to confront him.”

Juliette huffed but sighed. “Fine.” She hanged up and sighed as she stood and headed for the door. Rispoli radioed his men to head out as well.

They didn’t see Nick, Trubel and Sloane stationed in a car Sloane popped the lock to nearby, watching as they left.

“She really is with them…” Nick muttered, watching them with binoculars. He sounded lost and a little defeated, putting the binoculars down.

“I’m sorry, Nick,” Sloane said honestly.

“Its…yeah,” he said, rubbing his eyes.

“Shouldn’t we take care of them now?” Trubel asked, watching them.

“There’s about thirty of them that we can see,” Sloane sighed. “Ten each, with a neighborhood full of potential collateral damages isn’t going to do us any favors. They already killed one neighbor, who knows what else they’d do…and I’m not in the shape I usually am,” she added, patting over her chest with a sigh.

She sighed but nodded, knowing she was right. “They were really going to have thirty men gang up on Nick’s mom though?”

“It would take that many to overwhelm her on her own. You don’t get to be her age as a Grimm without being skilled and strong,” she said. She looked at Nick. “I’m not sure you should go back there tonight…”

“…Yeah,” he nodded.

“You come back to my house. Visit with your mom,” she said, patting his shoulder. Nick smiled faintly, knowing she was trying to cheer him up. “You too, Trubel.”

“I’ve already got a place to stay and I should probably get back to rest. Maybe tomorrow.” Sloane looked at her in surprise. “What? I didn’t come here without a plan, I promise. Plus, it sounds like you have a full house and I…don’t know how to handle that?”

“That’s…fine, I understand. But we better catch up more later.” Trubel smiled and nodded before heading off on her own. Sloane looked at Nick. “Ready to head back?”

Nick nodded slowly. “Yeah…let them clear out first.” They ducked down as the caravan of SUVs passed by them and waited till they rounded the corner. “…Let’s go now.” They all got out of the car, Sloane locking it back up from the driver’s side before closing the door.

“I’ll head out too…I’ll call you guys later to figure out what to do,” Trubel said, waving as started up the street.

Nick nodded and they split up to go back to Sloane’s car since she drove him over. “…What are you thinking?” Sloane asked softly.

“…That…I just can’t believe Juliette would go this far,” Nick said. “I mean, those men…they would’ve killed my mom…”

“…As much as I want to say she’s one of the toughest of us, thirty against one would’ve been too much for her,” Sloane nodded. “She’d have to worry about Diana too.”

Nick nodded. “…What we do about Juliette?”

Sloane took a deep breath as she tried to think how to answer that. “I…don’t know. I don’t want to believe the Juliette we knew is gone, but…I don’t see her in their anymore. In her eyes I mean…” Nick nodded, knowing what she meant. The rest of the drive was quiet till she pulled up to her house and they got out. They went inside and Sloane locked the door behind them with the two deadbolts she had installed.

“Hey, you’re back.”

“Mom, you waited up?” Nick asked. She smiled and stood, walking over to hug him.

“Of course. I was hoping you’d come with Sloane…but I also wanted to know what she saw.”

“Nothing good,” Sloane sighed. “Thirty Verrat at least. Seemed like they got into the neighbor’s house. One civilian dead. They were determined to get Diana.”

“Over my dead body…That was probably the idea though,” she sighed. Nick winced at the thought.

“Good thing you called Sloane, huh?” Nick said, smiling tightly.

“Yeah…”

“Nick’s going to stay here tonight…where’s Adalind and Diana?” Sloane asked.

“In the back room,” she said, smiling. “I’m not sure how, but it seems like after a little while Diana recognized her mother. Cuddled up to her and everything.”

“Really? At that age?” Nick asked, confused.

“She’s very special…But now they’re sleeping on your daybed. She said she felt safer where your weapons were.”

“…I guess I can see that,” she nodded slowly.

“I’m going to get a blanket and sleep in there too. You both look tired. Fill me more in in the morning.”

“Okay…” Nick said. “…I’m glad you’re here.”

“Me too,” she smiled, running hand through his hair. She then turned around to grab a blanket and pillow from the couch. Nick sighed, rubbing his eyes.

“…Stupid question, but how are you doing?” Sloane finally asked.

“…Bad…” he sighed. “I kept telling myself she would come back around. That she was just…scared and confused and angry, but eventually she’d realize what she was doing was wrong. That…I could win her back. Or at least help her…But she tried to kill you and Monroe…with me as the weapon. She just tried to lure my mother into a trap…I don’t know what to do anymore…If even letting her go will help us.”

“…That’s…okay.” She gently reached up and set a hand on his shoulder “I get it. We always want to be sure of what we’re doing and have a plan…maybe right now, we just need to try to get our heads on straight. We’ll think of something. You’re not going through this alone.” He didn’t say anything but nodded. She squeezed his shoulder and then took off her jacket and headed for the kitchen. “So, um, I think I’m going to make something to drink. Tea, probably. You want anything? …Nick?” She turned and was shocked to see him leaning against the door, face screwed up as if trying hard not to cry. “Nick…I…” She hesitated, unsure what to do. But she thought what she wanted to do and slowly walked up, wrapping her arms around him. “I’m sorry…”

Nick gave a shuddering breath, leaning against her a little now. He buried his head against her neck, and she rubbed over his back, not saying anything. After a few minutes he pulled back. “I…I’m sorry…”

“You don’t have to be,” she said gently. Nick looked at her in the eyes, only inches away. Sloane tried to smile encouragingly. The smile faded when he leaned in and kissed her. Her eyes widened and she was frozen a moment before kissing back. But she caught herself and shakily pushed him away, breaking the kiss. “Wha…?”

Nick’s eyes were wide as well. “I…Uh…”

“Why did you…?” she started, looking confused, flustered, and even angry.

“I didn’t mean—I was just—”

“You know how I feel, why would you do that?!” she choked out.

Nick was about to try and explain he wasn’t even sure why, but he faltered. “I…how do you know that I know?”

She blushed deeply and looked away. “…I gave you an out,” she said quietly.

“What?”

“I pretended…I didn’t remember the dreams,” she said, trying to calm down. “I knew you didn’t feel the same, but I still said all that and I…I figured pretending would make it easier. For both of us. So why…why did you go and do that?” she asked, looking betrayed.

“I just…I don’t know,” he said honestly.

“…You still love Juliette?” she asked, trying not to sound too accusatory or bitter.

“I…Yes,” he said honestly. “I mean, part of me does…I can’t…just stop, even though I know…” He floundered for words and looked at her. “I didn’t mean to hurt you or make you feel…uncomfortable…I just…I should go.”

“No,” Sloane said, catching his arm. “Just…You should go to bed. You’re not thinking straight.”

He frowned. “Sloane—”

“Go rest,” she ordered. “Your mom is here and I’m not explaining why you left again. I’m going to get something to drink, then I’m going to bed too, so just…” She didn’t look at him and Nick sighed and went to go down the hall to the guest room again. He felt confused, conflicted, and stupid for what he’d just done.

Sloane went to the kitchen and instead of tea, grabbed a bottle of wine she had in the cabinet above the fridge and poured a glass. She downed the glass, closing her eyes and praying it would make her feel less like she was a hive of bees revolting and buzzing. She poured another and went to sit on her couch, sipping it and thinking on what was going on.

Eventually she fell asleep on the couch, not wanting to get up. But she was woken by the sound of breaking glass and Diana crying in the back room. Then a lot of yelling and screaming. She was alert in a matter of seconds and rushing down the hall, the door to the guest room flying open and Nick joining her. “Adalind?! Kelly?!”

“Mom?!”

Before the got to the door, a man was sent flying through it. He was wearing a gas mask and thick fog was following him. Nick was scared it was tear gas for a moment, but he’d smelled that before in his police training. This smelled different—and it didn’t burn, but it made his head swim for a moment. But Nick saw his mother through the fog, blood pouring down her face, trying to fend off another man while another was vaulting in. Diana was crying in Adalind’s arms while she tried to shield her from the men coming through the windows. As she cried, the lights in the whole house began flickering and it felt like electricity was crackling in the air. One of the men tried to grab her and was thrown back into the wall, screaming as though he was on fire.

“Help!” Adalind stood, trying to get to the door with Diana in her arms. But then the fog suddenly, and unnaturally, swirled upwards towards her and her daughter’s nose and mouth. She quickly tried to fan it away from Diana, who was quieting down as if drowsy. And Adalind began to sway before tipping into the wall and sliding down. Kelly moved to get her but one of the men struck her hard with a baton, then again when she was on her knees. He raised his hand and brought it down on her head again.

Nick felt his blood run cold—not with fear but rage. He went pale and rushed in with a roar, punching the man out the window, breaking it further. Three more had made it in and one was holding Diana. Nick tried to grab her back, but another wrapped his baton around his neck from the window. Kelly tried to get up but the man at the side of the room struck her again.

“Front!” he yelled.

The man raced out the room, only to be met with Sloane brandishing her knife that she retrieved. “Put her down and maybe you keep your head,” she growled.

The man hesitated but then the fog rose up towards her. Sloane was surprised a moment before remembering the fog Juliette sent into people’s houses the night before. She tried to swipe at it, but it enveloped her and forced its way into her lungs. She wheezed, coughing and feeling her head spin. The man in the body armor moved the sleeping Diana to one arm and drew his gun with the other. The other man who Diana had sent flying limped up to him. “No, she said don’t kill them…she has plans, remember?”

The man growled but holstered it and ran past Sloane as she felt things grow dark. She tried to move down the hall, focus on getting Diana back. She saw the door open and Juliette was on the other side. She took Diana from the man, holding her without much emotion or concern, but still carefully.

“What did you do…to her?” Sloane said. She felt like she yelled it, but she had no strength in her voice.

“Don’t worry, she’ll be fine…It’s just a sleeping spell. One I control. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you resist that sort of thing.” She held up a hand, which was holding a lighter. “But it does have one added danger listed…being flammable.” Sloane’s eyes widened as she clicked the lighter on. The rush of adrenaline was enough to get Sloane running back as Juliette laughed—a cold, wicked sound that churned her stomach. “Run, run, as fast as you can!”

Nick had pulled in and beaten the man that attacked him from the window, Adalind was trying to stand, and Kelly was motionless on the ground in the thick of the fog as Sloane got into the room. “Outside!”

Nick looked up. “What?”

“Diana…” Adalind said, trying to move to the hall. Sloane grabbed her, pushing her towards the window.

“Outside, she’s going to set this on fire!”

“But Diana-”

“GET OUT THAT WINDOW OR YOU’RE GOING TO DIE!” Sloane roared, her eyes going dark. Adalind’s eyes widened and she turned finally to climb out the window as fast as she could. One man tried to grab her to go through first, but Nick punched him across the head hard enough his goggles cracked. The other grabbed his comrade’s shoulder and pulled him to the door to run out the front with their unconscious friend.

Sloane knelt to grab Kelly and sucked in a breath when she saw how bad her face was—the man had struck her several times in the head and one of her eyes was badly bleeding.

“Mom?!” Nick gasped. He looked up, and through the door, down the straight shot of the hall, he could see Juliette at the front door holding the lighter. Even over that distance it felt like their eyes met. And he knew what she was about to do. Nick quickly helped Sloane pick his mother up and pulled her towards the window, Adalind helping to pull her through. “Go!”

“Sloane—” he started, but she was pushing him hard to go first. He noted the fog seemed to be concentrating in the room now.

Juliette dropped the lighter and like a plume of napalm the fog ignited, rushing back to its source down the hall. Nick’s eyes widened when he saw it rushing toward him and he quickly jumped through, then pulled Sloane through just before the room exploded outwards, the fire licking her heals quite literally.

They all ground, having been thrown to the ground by the force. Sloane sat up, shaking her head at the ringing in her ears, and stared in horror as the fire began blazing. “No…No!” She stood, rushing towards it.

“Sloane!” Nick yelled, grabbing her.

“My house!”

“Sloane, stop!”

“No!” She struggled. “No, my house! My collection! It’s in that room!” she screamed. “My home!”

Nick squeezed her shoulders at the anguished shout and she nearly collapsed to her knees. The pain she felt in seeing the only place she had called home in decades burning was palpable. He looked down at his mother, prone on the grass of the back yard, and his mind going through what could happen with head trauma like that. Adalind was crying, and it was the sound of a mother feeling her child ripped from her once again.

And he knew that it was all because of Juliette. And he could feel the anger welling up inside him.

Kenneth was waiting a block over and was surprised when he heard the explosion. But he saw Juliette making her way towards him, with a little girl in her arms, and smiled.

“You did it…” he said, opening the door to his car for her.

“I told you I would,” she said, climbing in.

“She’ll be alright though?”

“She should wake up soon, I made sure the fog only got her a little. We should go.”

He nodded, signaling the driver. The men in their covert military-like uniforms were climbing into a van nearby to take another route.

“You might’ve lost one back there,” she commented.

“Oh, they’re expendable. They know that,” he said, looking at Diana as Juliette set her down between them on the seat. She was sleeping peacefully and though cute, he didn’t see what was so dire about getting her. “What about the Grimms?”

“They got out.”

He frowned. “You gave them time to get out?”

“I have bigger plans for Nick and Sloane,” she said. “Kelly…well, she didn’t get out unscathed. She was too focused on playing mommy and ended up pretty bloodied up. I was hoping I’d get Adalind, but she fought it…”

“Why set the house on fire then?”

“Buy us time to get away, and destroy at least a part of her now,” she smirked.

“…You know, I’m sorry I doubted you,” he chuckled. “I think you and I will be able to do a lot together.”

\----------------

The police, fire trucks and ambulance all arrived fairly quickly. While the main portion of Sloane’s house was saved with minimal damage—mainly the trail down the hall—the back was completely busted out by the fire. Kelly was taken to the hospital and Nick knew now how to get her to the doctor on call that knew how to deal with a Grimm.

Monroe and Rosalee arrived at Sloane’s house just after the fire was put out and she was staring numbly at the soggy, sooty remains of her office. “Sloane!” She looked up and sighed as Rosalee hugged. “Oh my God, are you alright?”

“…No,” she said.

“…Hey, it’s…your alive. You can rebuild,” Monroe said, trying to smile encouragingly.

“…That was where my gear was. My weapons. My books,” she whispered, hiding her face against Rosalee’s shoulder.

Both of their eyes widened. “Oh…oh no,” Rosalee said. Even if they were about hunting and killing wesen, those books were from Sloane’s ancestors. They had kept her alive many times. Had been with her for the majority of her life. Had belonged to her mother, but more importantly her Grandmother. And the weapons too, must’ve been passed down or carefully curated. None of this could be replaced.

“That…it’s bad, but it’s not hopeless,” Rosalee said, rubbing over Sloane’s back. “You’re all alive, right?”

Sloane was about to answer when Adalind walked up. “They have my daughter…”

Rosalee’s eyes widened. “What?”

“They took Diana…took her right out of my arms…” She grabbed Sloane’s shoulders, tears running down her slightly sooty face. “Why didn’t you get her!? Why?! He passed right by you!”

“…I’m sorry,” Sloane said honestly. “I failed…I know…”

“Sloane—” Monroe started.

“It’s true. We all failed…They figured out they came here I guess…maybe they didn’t even know for sure, she’d do it anyway. But they have Diana now.”

“Where would they take her?” Monroe asked, looking at Adalind.

“I don’t know! I don’t know what they’re doing anymore! She’s going to be on a plan for Europe probably soon and then we’ll never see her again and it’s your fault again, I never should’ve given up my powers! I could’ve protected her! You let her —” She gasped when Rosalee suddenly grabbed her shoulder and Sloane’s shoulder.

“Both of you, snap out of it!” she barked. “Now…we’re going to figure this out. We’re not letting the royals get away with this. But we can’t be blaming each other like this or giving up.”

“…Never said I was giving up,” Sloane said, moving towards the back of the house once the firefighters began packing up.

“Sloane?”

“Just…need to see what’s left. Then we can go.”

Monroe and Rosalee looked at one another but followed her over. Adalind hesitated but then followed as well. It was sodden, smokey and blackened and the hardwood creaked and cracked under their feet as they walked. The walls were barely studs in the bedroom and the wind whistled through the blackened skeleton walls to the hall. Her bedroom and the side room were thankfully barely damaged despite the fire trying to spread, but the closet where she kept her gear was gutted. Some weapons would be repairable. It wasn’t hot enough to melt her swords or other metals. But her crossbows were snapped and charred, handles were gone, pieces of armor singed. And her books…

She picked one up from the pile that had been the bookcase and it almost crumbled in her hands. Dried leather, singed parchment. Papers gone, only ashes remained. She stared a moment before just letting it fall and sighing loudly. Rosalee didn’t say anything, just set a hand on her shoulder.

“…what do I do in a situation like this…?” Sloane asked, honestly lost.

“…Well, first we get someone to tarp this off, secure the rest of your house,” Rosalee said, going into helper mode. She knew this wasn’t exactly what she meant, but it was what she knew. “Then we contact your insurance and see what they can do…probably making up a story as to what happened. They might investigate but hopefully not too hard.”

“I guess we could get that Schwein, Orson, to help from prison. If he still has contacts…” Monroe said reluctantly.

“And then…we just have to see what we can do from there to start cleaning up,” Rosalee said.

“The books…might be harder,” Monroe said. “But we’ll figure something out.”

Sloane sighed but nodded. She felt her pocket buzz and pulled out her phone. “…It’s Nick. Kelly’s out of surgery.” _Come to think of it, when did the sun come up?_

“We should go to the hospital too then,” Rosalee said. She looked at Adalind. “We’ll plan once we’re all together.”

“…Alright,” she said. “I’m sorry…I know you didn’t mean for this…I just…”

“I’m sorry too,” Sloane said. “I was hoping you wouldn’t have to say goodbye again too…”

“I didn’t even get that this time either,” she said, huffing a bitter breath. “But I’ll make sure I get her back.” She started for the car and Rosalee sighed.

“I’ll call Bud, he can come put some boards on the windows and make sure it’s secure for you.”

Sloane nodded and walked back to her car. Monroe and Rosalee both shared a worried look but knew this wasn’t over yet.

\-------------

Juliette was holding Diana as they walked up to the door of an opulent mansion just outside of town. Kenneth had revealed on the drive the king had arrived that night and was waiting for them. So, it was good this worked out. They were led by more men in suits to a room off the side of the entryway, a sitting room with a lit fireplace and many books. And an older man in a fine gray suit stood up as they entered. He looked like a kind, affable grandfather when he smiled. “Ah…is this my granddaughter?”

“It is,” Kenneth smiled. He nodded to Juliette, who walked up and handed the sleeping one year old to the king.

“My…already a year old, it’s hard to believe,” he smiled, holding her close. “Oh, how I’ve longed to hold this child. Back where she belongs.”

“She’ll be asleep for a little while longer,” Juliette said. “But then should be fine. Aside from maybe being confused.”

“Well, she’ll get over that soon enough I’m sure.”

“You should be careful, uncle…according to my men, her powers are indeed very strong already. She threw him against a wall.”

The king just laughed. “Oh! Powerful indeed then, wonderful. I’m sure she’s the child we’ve waited for.”

“Indeed…Ah, and my manners. This is Juliette Silverton. Without whom this would not have been possible. Juliette, this is King Frederick von—”

“Let’s not spout all those names, Kenneth,” the king sighed, rocking Diana slightly. Kenneth frowned at being interrupted but sighed. The king smiled at Juliette. “I can’t thank you enough for your help, young lady. I promise, a new life awaits you in Vienna. I’ve always had a rather soft spot for Hexenbiests after all.”

Juliette’s brow twitched but she nodded. “Thank you…but there’s a bit I want to take care of here first.”

“Oh?”

“The Grimms.”

His face grew serious and he looked to Kenneth. “They aren’t dead yet?”

“She wants to do it herself,” he said. “And given her history, I thought that fair. Though Kelly may already be dead. Traumatic head injuries and all that.”

“They’ll all be dead by tonight,” Juliette added.

The king hummed but nodded. “Very well. But I want to get back home as soon as I can, you understand.” He nodded to someone behind her and a young woman in a maid’s uniform came forward to take Diana from him. “When she wakes, feed and bathe her, and dress her properly. I want her ready to travel by tonight.”

She nodded, walking away. Juliette watched and then her eyes widened when she saw Diana’s eyes were open, glowing purple and staring at her. She looked away quickly, kicking herself for being intimidated by a baby. “…Could I use one of your rooms to finish preparing something?” She lifted a bag. “I have everything else I need with me.”

“Of course.” He nodded to a man who gestured for her to follow him.

She began to, but then paused. “Oh, Kenneth…you said you had a Private Investigator following Nick, right?”

“Yes, Lighton. Pricey, but worth it.”

“I want him to do something for me…could he come here?” she looked at the King and put on a faux sweet smile. “I don’t want to overstep of course.”

“I suppose that would be fine as well…” he smiled. Juliette smiled back and headed out with the man to one of the other rooms. Once they were gone, the king turned to Kenneth. “You’ve done well, Kenneth.”

“You’re too kind, uncle,” he smiled.

He smiled back, but it wasn’t fully warm or proud. He paced over to the fire, looking into it speculatively. “But I do wonder…is it only thanks to Miss Silverton?”

Kenneth frowned. “What?”

“You said without her you couldn’t do it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m impressed. But more so with her, than with you.”

His jaw dropped and he strode forward. “I am the one that thought to even use her! She is a tool, not the master.”

“Then prove it to me.” Kenneth looked at him questioningly and the king glanced where Juliette had gone to make sure she wasn’t there. “While I don’t doubt she may wish to exact some sort of revenge, I’m not patient or so trusting that she might go through with it. You go take care of the Grimms. Ensure they cannot come and try to retrieve Diana from me. You cannot leave loose ends, lest they weave together a noose.”

Kenneth looked pensive before nodding slowly. “That’s simple enough.”

“You say that, but don’t forget what they are.”

“Don’t forget what we are either,” he said back. “But afterwards, I’d like to know more about our history with the Grimms. And with how we got to our…positions.”

“That’s knowledge for the future king,” he reminded him.

“And? Am I not your new favorite nephew?”

Frederick huffed a bit but then smiled. “Take care of the Grimm and then…I can guarantee you are.”

Kenneth smiled and turned to head out.

\-----------------------------

At the hospital, Nick was sitting and waiting. At some point morning came, but he barely noticed, sequestered in a back room after getting his own minor scrapes treated. He was going through a cycle of worry and numb. Kelly’s surgery was secret so the doctor couldn’t talk openly about it yet and asked him to wait. He thought to text Sloane, but that was the first real conscious action he took for a while.

“Nick?”

He looked up to see Sloane, Monroe and Rosalee walking through the door from the main hospital. He stood. “Guys…” he sighed when they all came to hug him.

“How is she?” Adalind asked.

“I don’t know, they could only tell me the surgery was over, not how she’s doing…” He sighed. “Trying to pull the strings and get this going without alerting a lot of the other staff isn’t easy I guess…I don’t think most of them even knew who she was.”

“That’s for the best, less questions,” Sloane sighed. “As long as she’s being looked after it’s fine.”

“How are you?” Nick asked.

“…Alive. That’s what’s important, right?”

“What she said,” Adalind said. “I mean, I’m…burning on the inside of course.”

“We all are,” Rosalee said. “But being alive is good.”

“Definitely,” Monroe said. “And Kelly’s going to be alright too.”

“Depends on your definition,” a new voice sighed. They turned to see the doctor walk in.

“What does that mean?” Nick asked, worried.

“…Your mother is alive. Luckily the bleeding in her brain was able to be treated relatively quickly. We’re going to have to monitor her for a while but I’m fairly hopeful she’ll live.”

“…But?” Nick asked, sensing the lingering bad news.

“…I was unable to save one of her eyes,” he said. “It was hit with enough force it’s was just not viable anymore. And the other isn’t in good shape either. I had an ophthalmologist see her and do a lens replacement, but she’ll be unable to see for a while. Your mother may be legally blind for the foreseeable future, maybe the rest of her life. And there is the possibility she’s lost some cognitive function or ability due to the trauma, that’s always a risk. We’ll have to look into it further once she’s awake but it’s better to keep her asleep for now while we can monitor her brain for swelling or bleeding.”

Nick stared a moment. “I…you’re saying my mother…may be blind now? And have brain damage?”

“Yes. Which I know for a Grimm, is…”

“She might prefer death,” Sloane said quietly.

“Sloane,” Rosalee gasped.

“It’s true. That’s the usual feeling. I’ve heard many ask to die rather than go blind. It’s not an easy thing for Grimms to accept,” the doctor said.

“…I remember thinking how it was when I was blinded once. That I wasn’t sure what to do because I needed my eyes…”

“We would’ve gotten you through it,” Monroe said. “And we’ll get Kelly through this.”

Nick nodded but still seem shell shocked. “I…I mean, how bad was it? What kind of recovery…?”

The doctor pulled out a tablet with a sigh and showed him several scans and x-rays. The damage was bad looking and they all flinched in sympathy at the shattered orbital bone and fractures. “They targeted her face and her eyes specifically. Not only that, there was a wound to her neck…as if they tried to take her head. The fact she is alive is a testament to her Grimm strength—a lesser human or even a lesser Grimm likely would’ve died from the trauma before making it to the hospital.”

Nick turned away, taking a shuddering a breath. “…When will she be awake?”

“Hard to say. But like I said, I’m going to medically induce her for the next few days to be sure her brain can heal.”

Nick nodded, vaguely. “O…okay…” Monroe and Rosalee looked at him worriedly and Sloane gently tugged his sleeve. He looked at her and sighed.

“For now, go get some rest…” The doctor sighed, turning to head back out.

“…I’m not resting.”

“Nick—” Monroe started.

“No. They’re still out there, and they have Diana,” he said, his voice turning hard. “I’m not letting them just do what they want or get away with it.”

“What do we do?” Adalind asked. “Kenneth is likely preparing to leave the country as we speak.”

“…You still have access to that fancy hotel room?” Nick asked.

She blinked but nodded slowly and unsure. “…I still have a key so…Probably. Why?”

\--------------------

It fell together surprisingly easily. Take the head of the Verrat agent Trubel killed, sneak it into the hotel, have Adalind (still a registered guest to the suite) “find” it in the master closet and scream bloody murder to get attention. Adalind was a fairly great actress and sold herself as being traumatized to the staff and officers. Wu was first on scene after being updated on the situation, fine with interrupting his sleep to help catch the guys that assaulted Nick’s mom and nearly killed Sloane. Renard was also updated and made sure Nick and Hank were sent to the hotel. He let them know that north precinct had updated him on the recent killings that Jack had perpetrated—the woman who got away gave a description of her attacker. Tall, well-built, and British. Though it worried him at first, Renard was never one to pass up an opportunity and gave them the in they needed to put out a high demand APB for Kenneth and his men.

Adalind was escorted safely away—they ended up taking her to Bud’s house with his permission. He was a bit hesitant but when they explained what was going on he was shocked into a rare silence before agreeing. Monroe and Rosalee stayed there as well, as their house might be a target. Bud wouldn’t be a first thought for Juliette they were sure. Before going their themselves to wait, Nick went to his house and Sloane went with him to be safe.

He went upstairs to get the box he came for and paused when he saw his bed. He knew he’d made the bed before he left the day before, but it was tussled. _Someone’s been sleeping in my bed?_ It was a wry thought, but he couldn’t shake a slight twist in his stomach knowing the Verrat, Kenneth, and Juliette were here waiting to kill his mother.

Downstairs, Sloane was checking to see if anything else was disturbed. They’d left the house surprisingly clean and fine, but Sloane found the deep claw marks in the computer desk. It reminded her of the claw marks in her old kitchen and she frowned at the slight shudder up her back. They didn’t stay long, Nick having what he wanted. The rest of the day was researching the best locations to play out their plan and preparing.

And while they were gathering as much information and preparing as well as they could, Kenneth had arrived back at the hotel and was taken into custody there. The other car with him, carrying Verrat agents and Rispoli himself, actually kept going. It was a little surprising, but Kenneth was their man target.

“Wu’s got him,” Nick said. The others looked up and knew what that meant as Nick stood and headed for Bud’s door.

“You sure you want to do this?” Bud asked. “I-I mean I get it, but this could make you an even bigger target for the royals!”

“He and his men nearly killed my mother. She could be blind and nearly brain dead…” He tried to get himself under control. “He’s a rabid animal. He’s going down before he hurts the rest of you,” Nick said. He headed out the door, but Sloane was right on his heels.

“I’m coming too.”

“No.”

“Nick—”

“Hank and Wu will be there. I’ll be fine.”

She glared, nostrils flaring, and closed the door. “That’s not the point! You don’t think I’m angry too! For Kelly? And my house? My collection?” she gritted out. “As much as I want you safe, I also want to kick his ass and there’s safety in numbers! And more feet to kick!”

Nick looked at her and sighed, setting his hands on her shoulders. “I know you’re angry and have a right to be…But I want to take him on my own.”

“Why? To prove something?” she accused.

“…No. Because you’re still recovering from before.”

“I’m not hurt that bad anymore! I can fight!”

“You could barely get up from crouching down yesterday!”

“That’s because I did it wrong, I can work around it—”

“I’m not losing you too!” He finally shouted. Sloane shut up and looked at him in confusion and he sighed. “Just…You asked why I…last night…I don’t have a great answer right now,” he said. “It’s all still confusing. But I do know…I can’t risk losing you. I know you’re strong, I’m not questioning that, but I also know you stabbed yourself to save me and it’s still healing. And you almost got blown up last night making me go through the window first. So…please, let it heal and let me know you’re not pushing yourself too hard for once.”

“…Fine,” she said, looking away. Her face was flushed, and she felt a little silly at how happy she felt deep down. “But the same goes for you. I don’t want to lose you either. So, kill the bastard and get home safe.”

“I will,” he nodded. He hesitated, the brief thought of hugging her or kissing her— _her cheek maybe, would that be better or worse?—_ but pushed it aside and quickly went to his car. Sloane watched him go and sighed before pulling out her phone and texting Trubel the update.

Rispoli immediately drove back to the villa after driving past the hotel. A smell permeated the house—not unpleasant, surprisingly. Almost like a field of roses, but with the subtle undercurrent of blood. Rispoli ignored it and went to the back room. “Your Majesty!”

The king didn’t flinch but sighed heavily, sipping tea as he stood before the fire. “What happened?”

“The police arrested Kenneth at the hotel. The Grimm apparently set a trap for him.”

The king turned, quirking a brow, and then huffed. “This Grimm is beginning to grow annoying…”

“Should we go back to retrieve him?” Rispoli asked, expecting the king to make some calls.

“No.” He blinked looking at him in confusion and the king took a sip. “I told him to take care of the Grimm. This is his job. He’s not my heir yet and I’m not going to hold his hand. Despite his attitude, he hasn’t done anything without my resources—yes, _mine—_ at his disposal. So, he can either sink, or swim and prove he’s capable of taking this crown.”

“…You’re certain, sir? I mean, he is your nephew?”

“And I killed his father when he tried to have me assassinated, what’s your point?”

“…Nothing. But I do need to hear this as a clear order,” he reminded him.

“Ah, yes, hold on.”

He set his tea down and reached into his jacket. He pulled out a small box that fit into the palm of his hand and held it out. “Marcus Rispoli, you and your men are to no long guard Prince Kenneth Alun Goderich Bowes-Lyon.”

Rispoli felt like there was a hum in the air, and then like a thread around his wrist was cut free. He sighed and nodded. “Understood…”

The King nodded, putting the box back into his hand and patting it. “Good. Please get ready for us to be leaving then.”

He nodded and left—almost running into a maid. “Ah, e-excuse me,” she said, ducking her head.

“Watch where you’re going,” he huffed, heading down the hall.

She watched him, then glanced back at the king before walking towards another room upstairs. The nanny looked up and quirked a brow. “Yes, what do you want?” She frowned more as she closed the door behind her.

Kenneth, meanwhile, was in the back of a car being driven by Wu. He wasn’t that worried. He was a prince after all, what could the cops do to him? But then he noticed they were heading away from where he knew from Lighton the police station was and towards the relative boonies. That raised a few red flags, but he still felt confident as he looked at Wu. “Leaving Portland, are we?” Wu didn’t say anything, and he kept smiling pleasantly. “Our destination?” Still nothing. Kenneth let the cordial tone drop slightly, impatient. “Where are you taking me?”

“Where you belong.”

“I doubt that,” he laughed. Only a slight bit of unease creeped in as they got to an old, dilapidated warehouse near the woods. Wu parked the car inside and then stepped out to open the back door.

“Get out.”

“I take it this isn't standard procedure,” Kenneth quipped.

Wu didn’t rise to the bate and hauled him up and out of the car, pushing him with his hand’s still handcuffed behind him to walk in front of the car. “Lay down.”

Kenneth stood, defiant. “If you're going to put a bullet in the back of my head, just do it.”

Wu rolled his eyes and instead booted the back of his knees, forcing the taller man to kneel with a grunt. He then pushed him down to lie on his front. Kneeling by him with one leg on his arm, he uncuffed him and then stood and walked nonchalantly back to the cruiser. The princes were surprised before unwinding his arms and sitting up, turning to watch the car back out the way it came as he stood. He frowned and turned to look around. The warehouse was quite large, old, dilapidated and rust infested. Old bits of hardware and barrels and the like were strewn about. It seemed empty, until he heard footsteps coming from the dimly lit back of the large, echoing room. Nick Burkhardt walked forward as if birthed from the shadows.

Kenneth smirked a bit, knowing what this was now. “You know, I'd always heard how badass you Grimms were, but your mother was a complete letdown…” Nick said nothing, just kept walking towards him. “Of course, I did have the element of surprise on my side. How is she? I meant to send some flowers before I left, but I wasn’t sure if it’d be “Get Well Soon” or “My Condolences” …”

Nick stopped across from him, staring at him coldly. “How'd you get Juliette to help?”

“She didn't take that much convincing. You and your new girlfriend helped really.”

“New girlfriend?”

“That Sloane girl. Quite pretty, I do have to say, you must’ve had quite a dilemma!”

“We aren’t together,” Nick said, hands tightening.

“Really? That’s a shame. But then, I can’t blame Juliette for thinking that. She broke into your friends shop and cast a spell to look into her dreams. Saw you two sharing a tender moment…a little kiss?” Nick’s eyes widened and then he sighed as it explained a lot. “After that, it was fairly easy. Anger and revenge are one of the easiest emotions to manipulate. One good romp in your bed...Well, let's just say her needs weren't being met.”

Nick glared darkly. “Where is she?”

He shrugged. “The King's delighted to have his grandchild back. She'll be well rewarded as will I. She's changed the course of history, just so you know.”

“Too bad you won't live to see it,” Nick said.

Kenneth laughed, turning away as if needing to compose himself—and then just as quickly coming around and punching Nick across the face. His eyes widened slightly when it felt like hitting brick wall and not bone. Nick glared and struck him back—also feeling like being hit by a brick. Kenneth had never fought a Grimm himself after all and he was unarmored, unready for the fury in him. They began trading blow after blow because he was no slouch when it came to fighting, but Nick was taking it all with vexing ease. Any time he nearly got the upper hand, Nick would do something he didn’t quite expect like punch him in the kneecaps and drove his elbow into his chin on the way up.

Kenneth stumbled back into a column with several bits of rebar resting against it that clattered and clanged to the ground. He worked his mouth around and spat a glob of blood and a cracked tooth onto the floor. Nick wiped at a slight cut on his lip, panting. “If you swear…that you will leave us alone, I’ll let you live.”

He stared at him a moment, wiping his teeth with his tongue. “No…No, see, I have no intention of doing that. Not after this. I’m going to kill you here and now. Then I’ll kill your mother if she isn’t already dead. Your little wesen friends will come to heel if they know what’s good for them. Then I’ll go bed Juliette again. Then, for good measure, I’ll find that pretty Grimm of yours and bed her too. Or maybe I’ll keep you alive, let you watch and see how I make her forget all about you too.”

Nick bared his teeth and moved to hit him, going pale as he did, but he dodged. The strike hit the column and cracked the brick. Kenneth grabbed a piece of rebar and swung it around, intent on bludgeoning him. But Nick grabbed it before he could without even looking. Kenneth’s eyes widened when he realized he couldn’t move the rebar. Then more when Nick rose and pulled it, making him stumbled towards him despite planting his feet. He let go and struck Nick’s face, but Nick barely flinched, still pale and his eyes dark like obsidian glass. He grabbed Kenneth’s jacket and then held up his hand and with a flick of his wrist, the vambrace’s knife extending. This was the only weapon he had from his own family collection, left in his closet after being shipped back, and he was going to kill this prince with a Grimm weapon or so help him.

Kenneth struggled, beating at Nick but he didn’t budge other than bringing the blade in closer, and closer. The tip came to his neck and for the first time ever, he felt fear. He looked at Nick. “Don’t…don’t, I’ll give you whatever you want, just—”

“No. This is for my mother,” he gritted out, pushing the blade in. Kenneth screamed in pain and Nick sliced the blade through. It was a faster death than maybe he deserved, but Nick wasn’t cruel. Kenneth’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the floor, blood pooling beneath him. He watched a moment, panting as his skin flushed back to a normal color. Taking off the vambrace, he headed for the doors.

Hank and Wu had been waiting tensely and debating going in after him and put their hands on their guns when they heard one door open. When the other opened and Nick came out, they both sighed.

“He’s dead,” Nick said.

“Not too beaten up about that. Neither are you,” Wu said, noting he wasn’t as badly hurt as he’d worried.

“He wasn’t as much of a challenge as he thought,” Nick said. “But now comes a harder part. We need to get back Adalind’s daughter.”

“How do we do that?” Hank asked.

Nick took a breath and nodded to himself before looking at Wu. “Get back to the precinct. Triangulate Juliette's cell. She’s with them, that’ll be how we find them. We need to get to them before they're gone.”

Wu nodded, heading for his cruiser. “On it.”

“What do you want to do about the body?” Hank asked.

“Nothing, we're going after Juliette,” Nick said, not caring.

Hank didn’t press but followed him to the car. “We're going to need some help on this…The last time you pulled a gun on Juliette, it didn't go well.”

Nick hesitated but nodded. “Let’s get back to Bud’s house.”

\-------------------

Sloane, Adalind, Rosalee, Monroe and Bud were all sitting together, having some drinks. “I…still can’t believe this is happening,” Bud said. “I mean, Juliette’s a Hexenbiest? She tried to kill Nick and Sloane and Nick’s mom? Kidnapped a kid?”

“It’s all hard to believe, but it’s true,” Rosalee sighed. She looked at Adalind and frowned sympathetically. “How are you feeling?”

“…Tired…angry…scared,” she sighed, laying her head on the table. “I know this is all my fault, but I just…I just want my daughter back…”

Bud frowned and rested a hand on her back. “I’m sorry…I can’t imagine what this is like and I don’t know what to say…”

“…Honestly…thank you all,” she said, though muffled slightly by her arms. “I know I don’t deserve all the help and the comfort but…going through this alone was worse the first time. If I’d just listened…”

“Yeah, well…everyone’s got moments like that. If I did this, if I did that…at least you’re doing better. And we’re going to get you through this and get Diana back,” Monroe said.

Rosalee smiled slightly. “I’m going to make you some tea, just wait here.”

“Thank you…” Adalind said quietly.

They all tried to relax, but Sloane froze a moment and looked towards the door. “Someone’s coming…”

“Yeah, I hear it,” Monroe agreed, standing with her. Bud looked panicky but they motioned for him and Adalind to stay there as they moved to go check it out. Both of them relaxed when they saw who was coming up the walk. Sloane opened the door as Trubel quickly walked inside.

“You made it.”

“Yeah, is Nick still out?” she asked, looking around.

“Yeah. We’re still waiting for an update. Where’ve you been?” Monroe asked.

“Just trying to figure some stuff out…” Trubel said.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here,” Sloane sighed. “Rosalee’s making some tea.”

“And my wife made cookies,” Bud said. “She always makes something for me to snack on when she leaves. Part of why I’m not exactly Mr. Universe, but she likes me a little hefty.”

“TMI,” Trubel muttered, but headed for the kitchen while they closed and locked the door again.

“…You think Nick is okay?” Monroe asked Sloane.

“I’m sure he is…I just wish he’d get back here,” she sighed.

“Yeah, I know…” They went to go sit back down but Sloane paused and pulled out her phone when it buzzed. She’d hoped it was Nick, but it was a different number registered to the hospital. She quickly answered. “Larson.”

“Detective Larson? I’m Nurse Felton,” a male voice said. “You asked to be notified if anyone comes looking for Ms. Black, the woman in 342.”

“Yes, that’s right,” she said, immediately alert. That was the name they’d admitted Kelly under.

“A woman came by asking about her a couple of hours ago.

“Hours?”

“Yes, sorry…I just saw it here in another nurse’s notes, she didn’t get a chance to call. But according to her, she seemed very keen and didn’t like us turning her away. Wouldn’t give a name either.”

“…What did she look like?”

“Red hair, greenish eyes…that’s all I got,” he said honestly.

Sloane calmed herself quickly. “Alright…thank you for the update. I’ll be down there soon.”

“Of course. Have a good evening.”

“You too,” she said, exiting the call. She paused for a few moments before sighing and going to where the others had gathered for tea. “I’m going to go visit Kelly at the hospital.”

“You are?” Rosalee asked, surprised.

“Yeah…I don’t like leaving her alone right now. Even if she is sedated.”

“Yeah, people can still sneak in there. I speak from experience,” Adalind added quietly.

Rosalee nodded slowly, understanding. “Alright…call if anything comes up.”

Sloane nodded, heading out to her car.

Meanwhile, PI Lighton hanged up the phone and looked at Juliette with a bit of fear. “Alright…I found where Kelly Burkhardt is and called Detective Larson…Can I go now?”

Juliette smiled and took the phone from him. “Go on. I’ll take it from here.”

\---------------

When Nick and Hank arrived just minutes after Sloane left, they explained what was happening. Wu also called, having tracked Juliette’s phone to a group of luxury estates outside of their jurisdiction. Nick didn’t really care; he wasn’t going as a police officer. Wu gave the exact address and said he’d meet them there, but Nick insisted he’d done enough and didn’t need to put himself in danger any more than he already had for them. After the call, Monroe took them to the shop while Bud, Rosalee and Adalind stayed behind for safety. They’d gone through the wreckage of Sloane’s house earlier that day and retrieved what they could before fire investigators arrived. This included a couple of working crossbows, a spiked club, swords, and daggers. They quickly geared up and began the drive up to the estates.

When they were nearly there, they noticed a car following them. Nick pulled off the road, cut his lights and they got out to hide among the trees, ready to take out any guards. The other car pulled up, it’s headlights still on, and a figure got out of the driver’s seat. Nick raised his crossbow, ready to fire, but paused when he realized the silhouette was familiar. Squinting, he stood and walked out. “Wu?”

“Nick!” He sighed, relieved. He was dressed in jeans, a shirt, and a jacket rather than his uniform, and carrying a shotgun in his hand. “I know you told me not to do this, but after what they did to your mom, and Sloane’s house, I got to be here. I’m not letting them get away with hurting you guys.” Nick was surprised and a bit touched, as were the others when he looked at them. “Just so you know, I left my badge at home.”

“I'm glad you came,” Nick smiled.

Wu smiled back, then went back to business. “How we doing this?

“Leave the cars here. We walk,” Nick said, pointing towards the estate through the trees. “And no noise.”

“Could I still bring the shotgun?” he asked, gesturing at it. Nick quirked a brow and Wu quirked one just back and said dryly, “Just in case. You never know.”

“Bring it,” Hank nodded, before starting through the trees.

Inside, King Frederick was smiling with Diana, now in a much more expensive toddler dress he’d had brought in for her. She seemed confused when she woke up but was a surprisingly easy-going child. He brought out a few blocks to play with her and was astounded when her eyes glowed and they began dancing around, building different forms. “Ha ha! Oh, you are going to build kingdoms one day, Princess,” he laughed.

“Sir,” Rispoli said, coming to the door. “The pilot reported they’re five minutes out.”

The King’s smile more and he stood. “Good. It’s time to go home, Diana.” He picked her up, looking fatherly at her. “We’re going to go flying and then we’re going to sale across the ocean on a big boat! Won’t that be fun?” Diana smiled a little and he chuckled. “Yes, it will! Now, where’s Miss Silverton?”

“I…don’t know, sir. But she left earlier and said she had to take care of something.”

“Well, she’ll have to find another way to get to Europe then,” he said, not really caring. “Where’s the nanny?”

“Here, your majesty,” a woman said, quickly coming in. He didn’t really look at her as he handed Diana to her.

“Get her ready to go.”

“Yes, your majesty,” she said, quickly scuttling off.

The gang was quickly making their way through the grounds of the estate, taking out guards in the garden using arrows and the club until they could get into the house.

“Two guys in front of the house,” Wu whispered as they moved through some brush at the edge of the garden.

Nick paused, looking up when he heard a distant rumble. “I hear something…”

Monroe frowned, training his ears. “I don't hear anything…”

“Me either,” Trubel said. It was only a second later that the sound of a helicopter flying low filled the garden air and they watched as it began to descend at the other side of the house. 

“That's got to be their way out,” Hank said, surprised but rolling with it. The men were moving inside.

Nick gritted his teeth and then turned to them. “Juliette is not getting on the helicopter,” he said urgently. The nodded and Hank handed Wu one of the daggers as they rushed for the doors. Nick rushed to the large wooden door as he pulled his gun and with a surge of strength broke it down off its hinges. He began moving through, looking for any sign of life. The others flanked the sides of the house, taking out the other Verrat around the house before moving inside. Hank was nearly taken down by a hundjager’s surprise attack, being rushed and slammed into a china cabinet. Before teeth were in his throat, Monroe woged and rushed in, tackling the hundjager over the dining table and ripping his throat out first. Hank was a bit surprised but nodded in thanks. Before he and Wu raced to two different parts of the house.

Wu met another hundjager in the drawing room and though he looked at the knife, he shook his head and tossed it aside as he advanced and brought the shot gun up. One blast brought the hundjager down.

But the sound alerted the king, nanny and Rispoli as they were heading for the helicopter. The nanny adjusted the bundle in her arms, having wrapped Diana in a large blanket. Rispoli looked at them both. “If I’m not back in 60 seconds—”

“We’ll be gone,” the king finished, heading for the chopper door. The Nanny quickly climbed up, not accepting help with Diana to sit down with her in her lap.

From a window at the top though, Nick could see the King and a woman running for the Helicopter and not knowing if it was Juliette or not, raced down the back stairs to try and stop them.

Rispoli came inside, scanning with his gun raised. He saw Monroe run through a room and took two shots as he dove behind a loveseat for cover.

“Hey!”

Rispoli turned to see Trubel and she quickly took off running for the main stairs. Two more shots missed as she ducked down below the solid, plastered banister and crawled the rest of the way up. Rispoli followed, ready to shoot again, but didn’t see Hank hiding around the corner of the landing. When he passed Hank lunged and tried to wrestle the gun out of his hands. Bringing his arm down over his knee managed it but Rispoli yelled and grabbed him, bum-rushing him into a table and breaking a vase. A couple of punches made Hank grunted, but he punched back as hard as he could. Then he tried to pull Hank to the banister, intent to push him over. Hank managed to turn him around though and in the struggle, pushed him over instead. There was a crack and a thud and Hank looked over the edge as he caught his breath. Rispoli was splayed over the marble floor, blood already spreading from his skull.

Nick in all this was running across the lawn, trying to catch up to them. He saw the helicopter door close and as he got closer the wind from the turning blades made it hard for him to see or keep standing. It began to rise into the air, and he watched as it flew away, feeling helpless as he knew Diana and probably Juliette were gone.

\------------------------

Sloane finished smoothing out the bed sheet around Kelly. Really, she was looking for anything to distract her for the woman’s state. Her head was completely wrapped in bandages, from her crown down over her eyes. Several other areas were wrapped up, and her arm was in a cast as well. “…You better wake up. For Nick and for me. My own mother is a raging bitch who I think is trying to kill me and wanted me to be like her, so I could use another, more positive Grimm role model now,” she said, smiling wryly. “Your son did that pretty well though…I hope you approve. Oh, Dierdre has the trailer. I didn’t get to tell you. So, we need to get that back and I know you’ll want to punch her at least once. I want to see that. So yeah…you better be okay.”

She sighed, feeling a little silly talking to her when she was unconscious. But it also felt right to talk instead of letting the silence overtake them. To act like she wasn’t there. She was, she absolutely was, body mind and soul.

Sloane paused when she heard a sound out the hall. She frowned and stood, walking to the door, and looking out. Opening the door slightly, she froze when she saw Juliette at the end of the hall. She smiled and waved before opening the door to the stairs and heading down. Sloane felt her blood boil but looked back at Kelly.

Growling, she looked out again and grabbed a passing nurse, who looked at her in shock. “What-”

Sloane flashed her badge. “Get security up here. I want this patient guarded with your lives.”

“W-why?”

“Just do it!” she ordered. The nurse quickly rushed away, using the phone to call security. Taking a breath, Sloane waited till they came up before heading for the stairwell.

“You kept me waiting,” Juliette called up, echoing in the stair well. Sloane looked over the edge to see her at the ground floor four flights down. Growling, Sloane began rushing down and Juliette laughed as she went through the door. She jumped the last flight and rushed out after her. The ended up in the parking garage. Juliette was standing just down the line of cars. The orangish lights of the garage and sound of crickets made the scene strangely peaceful despite the high, hot and angry emotions running between them.

“Why are you here?” Sloane asked. “If you came for Kelly, I’m not going to let you near her. Or any of your Verrat friends.”

Juliette chuckled. “Oh, I’m not here for her…” She swiped her hand and Sloane’s eyes widened when she saw one of the cars glide quickly from its parking space. She quickly rolled forward as it crashed against the car across from it. Rushing forward, she managed to surprise Juliette with a kick to the stomach. Growling, she flung her hand, sending her flying back. She rolled again and grabbed a shard of glass, throwing it at Juliette hard enough it cut across her arm. She hissed and then woged, screaming into the garage. The echoing sound hurt Sloane’s and mad her grunt. The lights all began bursting around her, plunging the garage into darkness.

Another groan of metal being forced to move was her warning before the car slide towards her as though it found a patch of black ice in the summer night. Sloane high stepped over it but snapped the antennae off of it. She dodged two more and rushed Juliette again, whipping the antennae over her sharply like a reprimand, and sharp enough to leave more streaks across her with the sharp, broken end. Shrieking again, Juliette curled her fingers as if they were around her throat and Sloane gasped and dropped the antennae as she felt the phantom fingers lift her up. She choked slightly, being pulled forward by the invisible hand.

“You really think a Grimm is a match for a hexenbiest like me?” she said, jaw cracking in her woged form.

Sloane glared and then her eyes filled with black—and then her irises burned through. Juliette felt that cold shock down her spine, and then a pain in her shoulder when her booted foot raised high and then slammed down on her shoulder in an axe kick. She screamed backing away and her grip was lost. Sloane struck her across the face next, ducked at a swipe from her clawed hand, and then punched her in the stomach. She buckled, backing away and de-woging. She looked up and felt a flash of fear at the look of anger on her face. But then she stalled, blinking. A drop of blood leaked down her nostril.

Seeing her last opening, Juliette sent another car out of its spot and this time Sloane was struck, going up the hood and then rolling off. She was still on the ground, but still breathing. Juliette glared as she stood and walked over. “Let’s go end this…”

\---------------

High above Portland, the king was smiling as he looked out over the trees below. He looked over at the nanny holding Diana. “How is she?”

“Doing well,” she said. Her voice then changed from light and airy to a bit more somber and deeper. “Better than you.”

He blinked and looked at her. “I beg your pardon?”

She let the blanket fall away, revealing only a doll in its place. “Beg all you want. The royals won’t be pardoned.”

His eyes widened and then he glared. “You…bitch! Where is she?!” He moved to grab her throat, only for her to woge and bite him with a large beak. He hissed and backed away as far as the helicopter allowed. Then he reached into his coat pocket. “I’ll make you tell me and then I’ll make you jump from here!” Another hand caught his and pulled it with the strength of youth out of his pocket.

“I’m afraid that won’t be happening,” the pilot said.

“…When did you…? Get back to piloting and take us back to the estate!”

The man smiled. “I’m afraid I’m not wesen, your majesty…whatever that is won’t work on me.” He gripped the box and pulled it from the old man’s grasp.

“You won’t get away with this!”

“Another dead royal isn’t anything new,” the woman said. She nodded to the man and he reached behind him to open the helicopter door. The king’s eyes widened as the woman pulled a knife from the bun at her head and cut through his seat belt.

“You can’t! Please! You can take Diana, and the seal, but don’t kill me! I am the King!”

“The king of nothing. You royals are always cowards…playing with people’s lives, and then begging for mercy when it’s your turn on the chopping block,” she spat out in disgust. The man then pushed him out and he screamed. The scream faded as he plummeted down to the ground below.

“Long live the king…” Meisner sighed and sat down, flipping up his visor. “Feel better?”

“Moderately,” she sighed. She reached up and removed the wig covering her hair, then the bald cap underneath. Susannah wasn’t just a master of disguising her voice, she was well acquainted with changing her appearance. If she needed to be a maid it was easy. A nanny was a step up. “We should get to the rendezvous point and retrieve Diana…”

“And after that?”

“…You want to return her to Adalind as much as I do,” she pointed out.

“I do…but is that best?” He sighed, steering the helicopter with his copilot.

“Nothing is “best”. You just do what you can,” she said sagely. “And in my opinion, a mother that loves her child enough to change her ways deserves a second chance…”

“I’ll run it by the higher ups again then…” he said.

“They’re going to want to stick her somewhere “safe” and forget about her,” she said disapprovingly.

“I doubt she’ll let us do that,” he said with a wry smile.

\-----------------------

“They’re back,” Rosalee sighed, relieved. She opened the door and her face fell slightly when she saw they were empty handed.

Adalind noticed quickly as well. “You couldn’t get Diana?”

“…They got away,” Nick sighed.

“They had a helicopter,” Hank added.

Adalind’s face fell and she collapsed down onto the ottoman when her legs gave out. Tears came to her eyes and she covered her mouth as she tried not to completely break down. Nick looked at her sympathetically and sighed. “I'm sorry…”

“What about Juliette? Was she there?” Bud asked.

“I think so, but she got away too…”

“Oh, Nick,” Rosalee sighed.

He sighed, then looked around. “Where’s Sloane?”

“She went to go watch over your mom,” Rosalee said. “She was worried, since she’s…indisposed. She might be there most of the night.”

Nick sighed and nodded. “Okay…You can go back home now. It should be safe.” He looked at Adalind. “I’ll call Henrietta for you if you want?”

She nodded, sniffing through the tears. The pain was still there, but she knew how to go through it now. “What about you? What are you going to do? I mean, we can’t give up...”

“We’re not,” he said firmly. “I’m not letting any of them get away with this.”

Hank and Wu frowned slightly, and Hank set a hand on his shoulder. “Nick... You need rest. Go home. I'll handle the captain.” Nick looked at them, then at the others all staring at him anxiously. He knew he probably looked angry, but also bone tired. All the weight of what happened was pushing down on him. Sighing, he nodded and headed for the door.

Henrietta came a little while later and escorted Adalind back to her house. The moment they got home, Adalind dropped to her knees and began crying in earnest, and Henrietta did whatever she could to comfort her in front hall of her home till she could get her up to bed.

Hank meanwhile went to the precinct to speak with Renard. “Nick did everything he could, but they got away.”

Renard looked disappointed and saddened by the news, nodding. “So…My father has Diana now. There's nothing we can do about it. You tell Adalind?”

“Yeah,” he nodded.

He breathed out. “Good. Glad I don't have to again.”

“Captain, there's a few bodies up there,” Hank pointed out.

“That's out of our jurisdiction, isn't it?”

“Yeah.”

“Shoot anybody?”

“One. With a shotgun.”

He nodded, relieved slightly, as he stood and paced while his mind whirred down the options. “Well, there's no ballistics. Nothing tying you to them, so... Don't worry. I'll handle it.”

Hank nodded then looked at him again. “If it's any consolation, Kenneth is dead.”

Renard’s brow ticked up, but he nodded. “Well, that is some consolation. I still have to deal with what I did, though.”

“But that was Jack,” Hank pointed out.

“Yeah, but... I can't explain it, and they won't stop looking. The northern precinct has a witness account from the girl that got away. Tall, fit, and British…”

Hank tilted his head, then an idea came to him and he spoke slowly. “What we need is a suspect that's about your height... With a British accent. What are the chances of finding that?”

Renard sighed, nodding. Then he froze and looked back at Hank, askance. Askance, but admiring as well. When had Griffin become so devious? Well…time to go plant some evidence on his dear cousin.

\---------------------

Nick sighed as he entered the house and locked the door behind him. He honestly wanted nothing more than to sleep for a few years at this point. Hope for a better world when he woke up.

“Hello, Nick.”

He froze a moment at Juliette’s voice and then sighed. “What are you doing here?” he asked, not turning around.

“Why? Aren’t you happy I’m home?” she asked, mockingly sweet.

“This isn’t your home, you made that clear,” he bit back, turning slightly. She was standing in the archway to the living room and smiled.

“No, you made that clear.”

“Fine. I didn’t handle your…change well. But you…you tried to lure my mother into a trap. Here, in our home…my home. She trusted you! Then you lead the royals right to her!”

“Oh, ease up on the violins,” she spat. “I wasn’t planning on killing her.”

“But the royals were. Kenneth was. I had a chat with him. He was going to take my mother’s head, and you’re the one who sold her out! But I still beat him in a fight. To the death.”

She frowned but huffed. “Well…not like I was that attached to him. Though he was fun in bed.”

Nick felt his stomach turn but glared at her. “Get out.”

“Oh, come on,” she laughed. “I don’t get to have a little fun on the side?”

“Nothing like that was ever on purpose for me! But you—you’ve done nothing but use your powers to hurt everyone around you! You nearly killed Monroe, a-and you burned Sloane’s hou-” He paused and then felt the color drain from him when he finally noticed Juliette looked like she’d been in a rough fight. And there was someone behind her.

“Finally realized it, hm?” She smiled and stepped aside to show Sloane tied to a chair with a gag in her mouth. She looked pretty worse for wear. She looked at him and struggled slightly, trying to speak through the gag.

“Sloane!” He moved forward and gasped as Juliette waved a hand and lifted him off his feet.

“Nah uh. Sorry, but you and your new girlfriend won’t be getting cozy in front of me, thanks.”

Nick stared, glancing at Sloane, then back to her. “New girlfriend? That’s…We’re not—”

“Please. I know already she loves you,” Juliette sneered. “And I know things were getting a little _hot_ before I burned her house down.”

“…It was a moment of weakness.” He didn’t look at Sloane, trying to look at Juliette in the eyes again. “Nothing would’ve happened though.”

“Oh, ouch. Here that, Sloane? Guess you’re not enough for him,” she laughed, looking at Sloane, then back at him. “But really…you’re not going to say you still love me, do you?”

“Juliette—”

“Because I know you’re just stalling while you think of a plan,” she went on coldly, reaching up to cup his cheek. “Even if you and Sloane aren’t together…Looking at you two makes my stomach churn.” He gasped as her nails raked across his face, drawing blood. Sloane screamed at her through the gag, likely cursing a blue streak in a couple of languages and kept struggling. “You try to be so good…but you end up killing and excusing and lying…such hypocrites.”

“And you’re not?” Nick shot back, glaring at her. “You play the victim, but you apparently have no trouble turning on us to the point of killing us.”

“Oh, I’m not going to kill you. Not yet at least.” She waved a hand and Nick went sailing across the room, hitting the wall with a shout, and falling to his knees. Juliette turned her eyes to Sloane and smiled at the death glare she was sending at her, nostrils flaring, concentrating to try and break free she assumed. “You have something to say?” She waved her hand again and the gag untied, and Sloane spit it out.

“You’ve lost your damn mind,” she growled.

“Me?”

“Yes, you! Because you know what? The power isn’t corrupting you. Henrietta’s proved you can be a hexenbiest and do good things. Adalind’s proved they can change. You? You changed too. Or maybe this was always inside you.”

“What was?” she asked, glaring.

“A monster,” Sloane said. Juliette twitched and she pressed on. “All you are, and all you will ever be now, is the kind of monster people fear. You’re going to go the rest of your life alone, bitter and pathetically holding on to this idea that power makes you better.”

“You don’t think it does?” She reached out a hand and Nick gasped as he was slid up the wall again by power.

Sloane gritted her teeth but didn’t take her eyes off of her. “No. Dierdre thinks like that too, and I’m never saying that’s right again. But at the end of the day, Grimms have hunted your kind for centuries. There will always be another Grimm, and they will find a way to take you out. And no one will stand up for you. Not me, not Rosalee or Monroe…” She glanced at Nick hesitantly but pressed on. “You’re a monster. And monsters don’t get happy endings.”

“…Is that so?” she said. She gestured and Nick hit the window, but she pulled him back before he was tossed outside. He was bruised and a little bloody, groaning.

“Nick!” Sloane cried, trying to struggle again. She didn’t look up at Juliette till she was right in front of her.

“You want to see a monster? Alright then.” Sloane’s eyes widened as Juliette woged. She pulled a jar of black liquid from the bag at her side and opened it, before downing it all. She then reached her hands up, grasping Sloane’s head. She stared into the black depths of the other woman’s eyes as she opened her mouth, an inhuman screech coming from her throat. Like the buzz of a thousand high pitched cicadas in an echo chamber. Sloane tried to hold on but began to scream when she felt like Juliette’s hands fingers were pushing inside her skull. Tears began to trail down her cheeks and a noxious black smoke came from Juliette’s mouth to cover her.

“ _Sloane!!”_ Nick screamed. He pushed himself up, watching in horror as the smoke seemed to enter her body through her eyes, nose, and mouth. When it was all gone, the screaming stopped, and Juliette took her hands away. Sloane was limp in the chair, her eyes hollow and staring at nothing. Juliette stepped back and changed to her human form. Nick rushed over, lifting Sloane’s head gently. “Sloane?” She was breathing still, though it was shallow and raspy. Her eyes were back to their green hue, but wouldn’t focus on anything, her body was lifeless and unresponsive. “Sloane? C’mon, say something!”

“She’s alive, calm down,” Juliette said snidely.

“What did you do?” he asked, still trying to get Sloane to say or do anything.

“Something I was saving for you…but this will work too. I’m afraid she’s never going to have a normal life again. Or whatever that is for her.”

Nick felt something in him snap and he turned and surged up, wrapping his hands around Juliette’s throat, and _squeezing_. She looked surprised, hands going to his wrists and choking as she tried to breathe through the grip. “Undo whatever you just did, _now!_ ”

Juliette smirked. “Oh, but it hasn’t even started yet…” She set her hand against his chest and he gasped as he was blown back again, hitting the ground as though his legs were swept out from under him. “C’mon, Nick. Aren’t you going to fight back?”

Nick panted as he pushed himself up. “I'm done fighting, Juliette.”

She frowned, looking at him in frustration. “…Maybe I still love you. Maybe that's something that just never goes away. But you really should’ve killed me when you had the chance.”

Nick looked up at her, not wavering. “I'm done.”

“I know. I wish I was. Good-bye, Nick.” She woged raising her hand to strike.

“Good-bye, Juliette.”

Juliette looked confused and turned in time to see Trubel standing by the door, double crossbow cocked and aimed. Then two arrows flew and sank deep into her chest. She woged back, looking confused and unsure how this had happened. She turned, looking at Nick with wide eyes.

Nick stared as well before rushed to catch her as she fell. “No! No! No, Juliette!” Juliette stared up at him, gasping and moaning through the pain. He held her close as she shook from the shock and fear running through her.

“N…Nick,” she choked out, blood coming to her lips.

“Juliette, no!” he sobbed. “No…” He looked up at Trubel, and she looked down. It wasn’t shame, but it was sorrow. She hadn’t wanted to do this, he knew, but he felt his tears hot on his cheeks as he held Juliette close.

Trubel looked up then and saw Sloane, eyes widening and dropping the crossbow as she rushed over. “Sloane? Sloane, what…?”

As she was looking her over and starting to untie her, several men in tactical gear and black ski-masks rushed in. Nick looked up in shock, then panic when the men went for him and Trubel.

“No! Stop, what are you—?” Trubel yelled as they grabbed her and started pulling her towards the door.

“Trubel!” Nick shouted, standing to fight. He would be dammed if he lost her too. But five men all came for him, grabbing him and pulling him back. He glared and tried to summon his Grimm strength just as one placed a rag over his nose and mouth. The smell wasn’t chloroform, he knew what that smelled like and this didn’t have the same sweet scent. It was more medicine like, and strong. It sent his head spinning and they carefully laid him on the floor. He could hear them talking as the world kept moving around him.

“We got the Hexenbiest’s body.”

“Good, bring her out,” a voice said over the radio.

“The other Grimm is here. She doesn’t look too good…” another said.

“Bring her too. Either we can help her or make use of her, or both.”

Nick managed to turn his head and see them cutting Sloane free from the chair and one of the men fireman carrying her towards the door as they loaded Juliette’s body onto a gurney. Then the world went dark…

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Thank you all for your patience--this chapter gave me some trouble. There's stuff I wanted to set up, and I played with the timeline only to hate my first draft. So I painstakingly moved things back around and made it work a lot better even if it's a lot to happen in just a couple of days (I mean, same as before really, no one gets a break!)
> 
> So yeah, I didn't kill Kelly this time around--again, killing off a cool female character never sat right with me. Blinding her--hey, she might turn into Daredevil knowing her, we'll see, but I didn't want her to escape unscathed. As for Diana, I'm still thinking on that. I'd like to reunite her with Adalind since she's her only child now, but it's just figuring the best way to do that. As for what's happened to Sloane...well, that's a surprise.
> 
> Edit: Friend asked about title. It's from a bible quote, Ecclesiastes 7:26: "And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her." or simpler, "And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared." Basically, a comment on a crafty woman who uses her wiles to ensnare men to their doom if they aren't careful. Seemed to fit Juliette's downfall...


End file.
